Impeachment: Prof Soyinka Backs Lawmakers Against Buhari

“Very often, the grounds for breach of contract, I think we all agree, is misgovernance, and one of the ways of breaking this kind of contract we know even before the duration of a contract is known as impeachment.

“The reason we will go by some legislators to impeach the President who is the head of government. In fact, one cleric has gone even further. He believes that the impeachment should take place not in the legislative home but in the bush with the kidnappers and he appealed to the kidnappers to quicken the process by impeaching the President and taking him away and some of his aides and one or two governors.”

Soyinka, however, threw the question to the gathering whether the President should be impeached or not and the majority of the people who comprised members of the club and other dignitaries raised their hands that Buhari is impeached.

He also faulted a situation where Buhari, who he said had performed abysmally to the point that lawmakers are considering impeachment, will decide who succeeds him at the end of his tenure.

He added, “In any democracy, any president, prime minister, or whatever is entitled to one vote. We are not saying we should disenfranchise somebody because they are on top of governance.

“They had their right to campaign for any candidate they like but there is nothing in any constitution that I know of, in any democratic constitution, which says that the head of government should appoint his or her successor.

“I am not aware of it and this is a head of governance who is generally agreed, I believe, as having failed, having misgoverned to the point that impeachment is being considered.

“I hear the governors go to this individual, go to this failure and say to him ‘please give us your successor.’

“Many of us in this country, including governors, including chairmen of local governments, what comprehension they have of this process called a democracy because what these governors are telling us is that after a failure has occupied a seat of government for eight years, that failure should give us another failure for another eight years.”

Soyinka urged the governors to stop desecrating democracy by enthroning a dynasty of failure.

Falana, in his remarks, corroborated Soyinka’s submission on the need to stop the abuse of the democratic process.

He decried the imposition of leaders on Nigerians.

Oloyede, in his submission, urged Nigerians not to focus on the faults of the Federal Government but concentrate on the state government’s involvement in the failure.