President Muhammadu Buhari could face impeachment proceedings if the security summit to be held by the House of Representatives fails to improve the security situation in the country, an opposition lawmaker has said.
Dachung Bagos (PDP, Plateau), who represents Jos South/Jos East federal constituency of Plateau State, said the security summit to be organised by the House is the last opportunity for the President.
He said this while appearing on a Channels TV Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the House inaugurated a special ad-hoc committee, chaired by the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila. The committee will organise a security summit between May 24 and 28. Mr Bagos said if the summit fails to yield the needed changes, the lawmakers will call for the resignation of the president or impeach him.
“After this last resort with this summit, if nothing is done by the executive, after some months, we will call for the resignation of the president. We have the power to impeach the president.
“…. So this is like the last resort, we are taking it seriously. We know the discussion we had to make. We know how members were being talked to.”
He added that “We can assure Nigerians that this summit, the National Assembly will hit the gavel and tell the president if he cannot protect lives of Nigerians, he should let someone else do it”
On Tuesday, the House had an executive session during which 12 resolutions were reached including organising the summit.
It is unclear if Mr Bagos’ statement has the broad support of the lawmakers. The ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), controls both chambers of the National Assembly.
The president has called the bluff of the House in previous attempts to hold him accountable for general insecurity in the country, including an invitation by the House in the aftermath of the Zabarmari killings in 2020. He had said he would attend the summon by the lawmakers but later refused to.
As the security situation in the country worsens, it was reported that in the second week of April, over 239 people were killed and 44 kidnapped. Furthermore, states like Niger and Yobe have seen an increase in terrorists taking over territories.