The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari, over the 2016 budget scandal.
The main opposition party is also demanding for resignation of Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning (Kemi Adeosun and Udo Udoma) as well as the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele for their poor performance so far.
PDP’s demand for expulsion of Buhari and his principal cabinet members follows controversies trailing the 2016 budget earlier declared missing at the National Assembly.
Barely 48 hours after the Senate raised alarms over the whereabouts of the budget document presented before it by President Buhari last December, the Red-Chamber accused the senior special assistant to President Buhari, Senator Ita Enang, of presenting an altered version of the budget to its plenary on Thursday.
“What he distributed is different from what was presented by Mr. President and we have resolved not to address any version until we receive the version presented by Mr. President”, declared Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.
The PDP in a statement signed by its acting national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, disclosed that its National Working Committee “rose from a meeting Thursday charging the National Assembly to commence impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari for the various constitutional breaches especially the submission of two version of the 2006 budget”.
The party said the National Assembly should thoroughly investigate the “shameful act, including the distortion and banding of figures to accommodate their personal interest and ensure that appropriate sanctions is meted to whoever has a hand in the dubious action that has brought embarrassment to the legislative body”.
The party also asked the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, to resign “having failed to provide the much needed capacity in the management of the nation’s economy resulting in the embarrassing crashing of the nation’s currency to as low as N305 to a dollar”.
Also, the party asked the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to resign “for plunging the country’s currency policy into chaos an action that thrown investors into total confusion”.
“We sympathize with Nigerians who are seriously undergoing terrible hardship because of the now obvious inept leadership of APC despite the promise of one Naira to a dollar.
“What hope can a government that allows its currency to break a 43-year old record crashing to over N300 to one dollar offer and yet does not show it has clear focus of what to do,” the party said.
It stated that “APC government rather than address very grievous national issues created by its lack of capacity to govern has instead resorted to violation of people’s rights in the name of fighting corruption”.
By Olisemeka Obeche