Nigerian Opposition senators are asking for President Muhammadu Buhari to face impeachment, 10-months before second term in office ends. The senators are said to be concerned over the country’s increasingly mounting security issues.
Nigeria will hold elections in February 2023 to elect a new president. The election is said to be hotly-contested with security and economy the main issues.
At a closed Senate session, Senators of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) tried to introduce a motion giving Buhari six-weeks to improve the country’s security or face impeachment, Senator Philip Aduda said, according to the BBC.
“Nowhere is safe in Nigeria, even Abuja. Urgent steps need to be taken … we have given the president six weeks to resolve the issue or we impeach him,” he said.
Aduda added that the motion was blocked by the Senate President. This prompted a walkout by Senators belonging to the opposition. The Nigerian Parliament is controlled by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party. A move to impeach Buhari will require support to be rendered by two thirds of Senators in the parliament.
The presidency issuing a statement threw its weight behind the Senate President for not “entertaining the ridiculous motion to impeach our President”.
Terming it as propaganda, information minister Lai Mohammed said, “We are working round the clock … to make sure the situation is brought under control”.
According to the BBC, Nigeria is struggling with security problems across its vast territory, including armed robberies by criminal gangs, an Islamic insurgency in the northeast and a spate of mass school abductions in the northwest.
Earlier this month, Islamic State conducted a prison raid in Abuja which freed around 440 inmates.
