A member of the House of Representatives representing Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency of Kaduna state, Hon. Yakubu Umar Barde, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has no further excuses to continue to rule the country as he is due for impeachment long ago.
Speaking on an Arise Television breakfast show duly monitored by truth live.net, Barde touches on the growing wave of insecurity in the country and the need for the National Assembly to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari, declaring that it was long overdue.
Details of the interview are below:
Is the threat to impeach Buhari a minority decision or a bipartisan move at the National Assembly?
Let me begin by paying my condolences to the military men who lost dear lives in recent attacks especially in Abuja here and also to some members of my Constituency who have been killed, maimed and some of them still in the hands of kidnappers in the forest.The move to impeach Mr President is something that for me, is long overdue.
I remember like three years ago when the pupils of Bethel Baptist School were kidnapped, I did move a motion on the floor of the assembly in which I asked that if the military had run out of ideas on how to curb this insecurity or Mr President had run out of ideas, he should resign. It is there, I said it.
Now, I am happy that more members of Parliament are concerned. At that time, there was this feeling that it concerned only my Constituency but today it has gone viral. All parts of Nigeria today are feeling the brunt of insecurity.
The move to tell Mr President to sit up is not something that has to do with party but has to do with the concerns of serious members of Parliament who sincerely feel the pains of their constituents and Nigerians.
You can imagine the number of widows we have today in the military barracks just because somebody somewhere is not doing his job. You can imagine how many orphans we have today in the barracks and even in the society because their parents have been killed.
You cannot in all sincerity look at this situation and tell yourself that all is well. When they started, it was like a child’s play. People felt they started from Borno state and it won’t get to Kaduna or Ondo and other states but today because of inaction of the government, we are being overrun. Today, the nation’s capital, which is Abuja is under threat.
This morning I received a text message from one of my Constituents advising me on some areas that I should not go to in my country, in the Federal Capital. I am being caged because of insecurity. Now, what is the joy of being a Nigerian if you cannot move about freely? The impeachment is a call that is long overdue. Mr President should have sat up before now but it is better that it is coming now than never.
Governor El-Rufai claimed that he was the one who made the president aware of the threats on both of them by bandits. Is the president also aware that there is an impeachment process against him? Does he actually know that?
I guess he knows because he is always in talking terms with the leadership of the parliament, either the Senate or House of Representatives. So, he knows, but again it is a shame if it is a governor that would inform my president who is the Commander in Chief, who has all the intelligence services reporting to him.
It is very laughable that it is a state governor who will tell the president that ‘Mr President, you are under threat’. For me, it is a sign of failure. I am very disappointed because before now, Mr President received daily briefs from his intelligence chiefs and others. So, how can it be that my president did not know that he is under threat? It is shocking.
If that be the case, I will say what the National Assembly is doing is something that should be done very quickly. Even the six weeks we are talking about for him to put the military apparatus in order to make sure that we have a headway is even too long. He has been there for seven years and what can he do in six weeks? If he has anything, he should have done it before now.
Do we have to wait until when we are caged? Is it because now it has come to the Federal Capital Territory that he needs to do something about it? How about the families of victims in Borno, Ondo, Kaduna and other places?
What is the likelihood of getting the required number to impeach him?
For me, I am going to sign that motion for his impeachment and it is borne out of concern for members of my Constituency, that is the people of Chikun and Kajuru. They have expressed their displeasure, their disappointment with the government.
So, if I sign it today, I am expressing the mind of my people and I believe to a large extent, most of my colleagues are aware that their constituents are under threat. But if any member feels that he and his Constituents are secure, so be it, but for me and my Constituents, we are disappointed and this call for impeachment is something they fully support and I am going to follow it up.
If the majority of the people feel otherwise, no problem. In a democracy, I will always have my say, the majority can have their way.
As I speak to you today, in Kajuru, these attacks are a daily occurrence. We have over ten thousand displaced persons. How do you expect me to go and explain to them that Mr President is doing his best? Whatever best is put on the table today is not good enough for me. It is not good at all because the rate of the killings has not abated. It is increasing by the day.
How do I explain to my people? I leave other members of Parliament to their consciences but for me, I am speaking from the truth of my conscience that my Constituents are disappointed and they are not feeling secure in their homes.
Some Nigerians say lawmakers are the problem, that you are only coming out with this threat because Abuja, your base is under attack.
Yes, everyone is entitled to his opinion but I will speak for myself. I told you earlier that some years ago, I had moved this type of motion against the president. If the interpretation of people is that I haven’t done anything in this regard, so be it.
Now, if you look at the budget we have today, we have cooperated with Mr President in increasing the defence allocation so that we can buy more equipment, we can be technologically advanced to deal with these people. The parliament increased this money. We have never denied Defence any money. Anything they want, we give to them.
The problem I think is not that we are not doing our jobs. The question we should ask is how well have they made use of the money we allocated to them? If you look at what was budgeted for security today, it is running into trillions of Naira. The federal government bought Super Tucanos. They were brought to this country. As I speak to you, I do not think they have been in use.
If you look at the number of our security men who have been killed on a daily basis, you will ask yourself whether we do not have the means to reduce the casualty. Is it that we do not have the technology to disarm these people in the forests or fish them out of their holes? Must we wait until they attack and then we defend?
I have never spent two good weeks in Abuja. I go to Kaduna. For this interview, I traveled on the Kaduna-Abuja road to come to Abuja and my heart was in my mouth. No Parliamentarian worth his onions would sit in Abuja and not visit his Constituents. You cannot win elections by sitting in Abuja. I do not think any lawmaker would sit in Abuja and feel comfortable.
He has parents, families who are not in Abuja. Abuja is just a work place and not home to us. Yes we can do more, but I don’t agree that we have done nothing. We needed to have taken some proactive measures before it got to this stage.
The country is being overrun. If the insurgents have the effrontery to attack Abuja, where else is safe? You can imagine when they started, they were not attacking military establishments but because they became more emboldened, have more equipment, they attacked the Nigeria Defence Academy, they attack military checkpoints. For them to have grown to this extent, I think we are in trouble.
We hear that by September 20, the lawmakers will start collecting signatures. Do you see the possibility of a sitting president being removed from office particularly during an election season? Won’t there be ethnic and religious considerations by some people along the line?
If the life of your child who is in captivity in the forest does not mean anything to you and you want to support Mr President because he is a northerner, so be it. That is your decision. But as for me, if you bring religion to it, I will ask which of the religions today does not feel the pain of insecurity? Muslims, Christians and even atheists are feeling the brunt.
These people do not know and they don’t care about your religion. So, you don’t bring or preach religion to me because what matters to me is the safety of my Constituents. You don’t bring region to me. The North today is the worst hit when it comes to insurgency, kidnapping, killings. The North is in bad shape. Why would I even think you are making sense to me when you bring ethnicity?
Of course, some people may have that kind of view and may want to align themselves with that but anyone who does that is playing the ostrich. Anybody in his right senses would do the needful.
On the timeliness, it is better late than never because it will serve as a lesson to whoever will be the president that the parliament has the capacity to use the instrument of the constitution to do the needful. The impeachment is welcome. We should do it. If it will make Mr President sit up, so be it. Something can still be done before he leaves office.