Olusegun Ariyo
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara has disclosed that the 1999 Constitution makes it impossible to impeach a president, suggesting that the country should change to a parliamentary system.
Dogara, a lawyer, said the impeachment process stated in the 1999 Constitution makes it impossible to remove a sitting president no matter his offence.
The former speaker spoke on Monday at a national dialogue organised by a group of lawmakers pushing for a transition to a parliamentary system.
Urban Express News Online recalls that a group of 60 lawmakers sponsored a bill for the transition to the parliamentary system by abolishing the office of the president and creating the office of a prime minister.
Dogara, who backed the bill, stated that the current system was wrongly copied from the United States without considering the differences between the US and Nigeria.
According to him: “In Nigeria, Section 143 doesn’t offer any practical framework for impeachment. At the end of the day, all the National Assembly’s efforts are handed over to a panel of politicians they call people of impeccable character.
“I don’t know where we can find these ‘angels.’ Their determination is final and cannot be challenged by the National Assembly or any court in Nigeria. And these seven people of ‘impeccable character’ are appointed by the CJN, who is appointed by the president—so how can this system work in reality?”
Also speaking at the session, Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor and minister, described the current situation in Nigeria as “deep in trouble” and called for radical intervention.
He warned that the decline in the economic, political and spiritual condition of Nigerians could trigger a revolution.
Aregbesola reiterated that the idea of a single man to govern 220 million Nigerians is “a joke.”
Said he: “Whatever does not give appropriate opportunity or rights to the people will be resisted, no matter what you do. If other things fail, people can revolt. If we are conscious of all this and understand the consequences of things getting out of hand, we would be interested in finding the best ways to govern ourselves.”
