The Presidency has described as headline grabbing stunt, the decision of the opposition parties’ senators to stage a walkout during the plenary of the Senate on Wednesday.
The senators staged a walkout following the ruling out of order on a point of order raised by Minority leader Philip Aduda (PDP-FCT) to discuss insecurity in Nigeria.
Aduda had raised a point of order to draw the attention of President of Senate, Ahmad Lawan, to bring to the public discussions on issues of insecurity at a close session that lasted two hours.
The lawmakers were said to have decided to give President Muhammadu Buhari a six-week ultimatum to improve on the security situation or face impeachment.
However, when the order to that effect was raised by Aduda, Lawan intercepted, saying that it was against the Senate rule to bring up any matters of such without his prior consultation.
Lawan, thereafter ruled the minority leader out of order.
However, reacting to the plot to impeach the president, the Presidency said the action of the senators was “babyish.”
In a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Wednesday, the Presidency added that it was a mere stunt to grab headline.
The statement reads in full:
DETERMINED TO BE IN THE HEADLINES, PDP SENATORS ARE DIVIDED, CONFUSED
The performative and babyish antics of those senators staging a walk out notwithstanding, Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s refusal on Wednesday to entertain the ridiculous motion to impeach our President was quite appropriate and correct.
Rather than making a mockery out of voters by trying to imitate what they see in America, the opposition would be well advised that their time would be better spent tackling the pressing issues Nigerians face, such as the current global cost of living crisis.
Their continued failure to do so goes some way to explaining why they remain in opposition.
In contrast, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is committed to finding lasting solutions to the emerging security threats, including those left behind by the PDP in the South-South, the Northeast and throughout the federation. In the last 24 hours, two more Chibok girls were freed, in addition to the three brought home last week.
These kinds of headline grabbing stunts for which the opposition is now well known serve no one, least of all their constituents. We would respectfully remind them that it is those same constituents that they were elected to serve, and are paid to do so with public money.
We would welcome their collaboration in our efforts to solve the problems Nigerians face on a daily basis. No one is asking them to waste their time attempting to impeach a democratically elected President at the end of his second term – certainly not their constituents.
They should ask themselves: do they want to be in government or do they want to be in the headlines? If they want to be in government they should start acting like it and stop undermining Nigerian voters.
