Arewa Consultative Forum and Northern Elders Forum yesterday disagreed over the demand for President Muhammadu Buhari’s impeachment or resignation.
Northern Elders said the President should vacate office, following rising insecurity, which has led to the killing of innocent Nigerians in different parts of the country.
NEF asked the National Assembly to impeach President Buhari, if he is unable to secure Nigerians.
Its spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who spoke on the Africa Independent Television (AIT), said the country cannot wait two more years for Buhari to address the issues of insecurity.
Baba-Ahmed spoke few days after the presidency said some leaders were pushing for regime change.
Baba-Ahmed said: “One option we have is that the legislators will look at the record of the administration, understand the areas where the president has failed, understand areas where there is clearly no evidence that they’re going to do anything about it and refer to the constitution that says the whole purpose of government is to secure citizens and pursue their welfare.
“If Buhari fails to do that, for me, those are impeachable offences. In the last six months, two years, what has the president done to secure the country? Absolutely nothing has been done and yet you see increasing failure of the state to protect citizens.
“Or as our democratic system provides, those with the responsibility to get them off, should impeach those who are failing. If the president can’t deliver, he should be impeached.”
But former ACF Secretary General Anthony Sani and Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) dismissed calls by the NEF, saying that it lacked justification.
Sani said that the Elders Forum was merely playing the card of the opposition in the National Assembly who last week called for the impeachment of the President.
Sani said: “I think the Northern Elders Forum is pandering to the calls by the opposition in the National Assembly that the President should be impeached for failing to put an end to the insecurity across the country.
“While one cannot question the right of opposition to call for the impeachment of the President if he has committed impeachable offenses, it is important to note that impeachment arises from specific breaches of the constitution, and not from declaratory assertions.
“Yes, insecurity is a cause for concern. Most Nigerians would wish the government could put an end to the prevalent insecurity across the country. But it cannot be the basis of impeachment precisely because this regime inherited the insecurity posed by the insurgence which attacks transcended the North.”
He added: “The letter and spirit for impeachment are for improvement in the quality and volume of good governance for the good of all.But the application of the provisions are for specific breaches of the constitution which the proponents of impeachment must articulate and provide for effect. Impeachment is not an instrument for the use of opposition any time they are not satisfied or have grouses with the government.
“Look at how America which has experienced over 150 mass shootings for the past four months is debating how to mitigate it. Nobody is talking of impeachment but how to end or reduce mass shooting.
“We better come together and unleash our synergistic potential against collective challenges for the good of all.”
BMO described those calling for the President’s impeachment as anarchists.
Its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, said this was not the time to call for resignation or impeachment of the President, but a time to support and encourage him to do he is doing to address the security challenges in the country.
He said: “I know that at this point in time, all hands are supposed to be on deck. So, anybody that is asking for the impeachment of the President is just being an anarchist. The contest of our challenges regarding insecurity is just a surging issue.
“It is not as if the government is overwhelmed or as if this issue has been with us forever. In 2015, the President inherited issues of insecurity in the north. Between 2016 a d 2017, he was able to curtail them. But sometimes late last year, this started.
“So, it is a new phase of the security challenges that the President is contending with. So, the President has also shown capacity, seriousness and commitment and is mobilizing his men in the Armed Forces and the Police and has continued to assure Nigerians that this will be curtailed.
“It is only those who wants to dance on the blood of the innocent that will use this opportunity to explore the sentiments of innocent Nigerians. This is not the time to ask for resignation or impeachment. This is the time to encourage the President to continue to do what he is doing.
“As a person and a collective of those who supports the President, we are behind him, we are encouraging him to do all he can because we know that he has the capacity. He has shown it in the north east and we know that he will curtail this new security challenges”.
