PDP lawmakers in the upper and lower legislative Chambers met behind closed doors in Abuja on Thursday, appearing to take a step forward in their efforts to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari over the unending terrorist attacks.
Senator Philip Aduda of the Senate PDP Minority caucus told reporters after the closed-door session that the meeting allowed them to explain the scenario that played out in the red Chamber on Wednesday regarding a "walkout" by Senators.
According to Aduda, in a bicameral legislature such as Nigeria's, both Chambers must be on the same page for impeaching a president to work; thus, the minority caucus in the lower Chamber was summoned for a proper briefing.
He stated that the opposition Senators were not alone, revealing that a large number of Senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress agreed with them and promised to be bipartisan on the issue.
"Members of the press, we are here this afternoon to brief you on the meeting we just had with House members," he said. The meeting was required because we needed to be on the same page on issues concerning the state of the nation.
"I believe you are all aware of what happened yesterday on the Senate floor, and we saw the need to be on the same page as members of the House of Representatives."
"I am sure members of the press must have interacted with some of our colleagues on the issue that occurred yesterday in order to understand that this is not just about the PDP caucus."
"It was a partisan issue." We all agreed that security architecture is failing and that something needs to be done about it. To some people who don't know, the issue is that we all agreed that we needed to issue an impeachment notice to Mr. President because the government's primary responsibility is to protect the people.
"The issue of impeaching President Buhari was discussed behind closed doors, as was the inclusion of other parties in the move."
"We have now invited the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives to brief them on the events of yesterday so that they can understand what happened."
"We are calling on the Speaker of the House so that we can hear from them as well," Aduda said.
In response, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, stated that the same sentiment was felt on the floor of the green Chamber, and that he personally drew members' attention to the unsafe capital city.
While acknowledging the Senate's protest, Elumelu stated that they would support the Senate's decision to remove President Buhari from office.
The lawmaker drew attention to remarks made by President Buhari's aide who called the impeachment move "laughable," insisting that when legislators returned from their long vacation amid persistent insecurity, they would use constitutional means to remove President Buhari from office.
"Of course, the Senate has been awash with what happened yesterday," he said. Our colleagues in the Senate must walk out in protest of the nation's state of insecurity.
"Concurrently, we did not do it the way the Senators did it, but I drew the House's attention to what is going on in Nigeria, particularly in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja."
"A few days ago, the Kuje prison in the FCT was invaded. This week, on their way to Law School in Bwari, some very important members of the armed forces were butchered by insurgents in their youth.
"As if that wasn't enough, the Minister of Education issued an order closing all schools in the FCT." Yesterday, the FCT Minister ordered that all FCT schools be closed, and I warned my colleagues on the House floor that Abuja is no longer safe.
"If Abuja is safe, why should the Minister serving under the APC-led government order all students to leave?"
"Why should the FCT Minister order the closure of all private schools?" Of course, this indicates that Abuja is not secure.
"This is why our colleagues are calling for an impeachment notice to be issued in response to the APC-led government's inability to safeguard the country that our founding fathers intended for no one to suffer," he said.