The Presidency has said President Muhammdu Buhari will never be part of any unconstitutional act following attempts by 8 All Progressives Congress members to remove Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state.
On Monday, eight members of the Benue Assembly threatened to begin an impeachment proceedings against Governor Samuel Ortom, who last week committed political apostasy by switching allegiance from the All Progressives Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party, along with 22 members of the state legislature.
As the drama of defection played out, the speaker Terkimbir Ikyange was impeached and later suspended. A pro-tempore speaker was elected. The deposed speaker on Monday announced the beginning of an impeachment proceeding against Ortom.
Here is the statement from the Presidency:
BENUE ASSEMBLY SAGA: NO NEED FOR PARANOIA ABOUT PRESIDENT BUHARI
Even while attending the ECOWAS/ECCAS Summit in Togo, strident attempts were being made to drag President Muhammadu Buhari into the unfolding drama between the executive and the legislature in Benue State.
Statements have been issued by different interest groups, insinuating that the President may have a hand in the development in Benue.
This is paranoia at its worst, coming from people who have wittingly positioned themselves against the clean-up of the country, and the way we do things. They prefer business as usual.
President Buhari will never be part of any unconstitutional act, and any attempt to link him with the inglorious past, when minority number of lawmakers impeached governors, will not stick. It will simply be like water off the duck’s back. Those with open minds know this, but those who cavil would rather source everything untoward to the President. It is murky ground in which they are now marooned, as fallout of their resistance to change in the country.
When it suits them, they preach separation of powers and true federalism, and in another breath, they call on the President to interfere brazenly in affairs at state level.
President Buhari will always stand by all that is noble and fair, and will reject attempts to drag him into infamy. People who stoke fires by deliberate acts of omission or commission, and then summon the President to come and put it out will find that this President will be guided by the Constitution at all times, no matter the attempt to entangle him in unwarranted controversies.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
July 31, 2018
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