Former Chairman of the
Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, has
warned the party against attempting to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari
In a July 15 letter
to a factional chairman of the party’s National Caretaker Committee, Senator
Ahmed Makarfi, he said the time was neither right nor the reasons compelling
enough to contemplate the “ill-advised adventure” of presidential impeachment.
Anenih, who is
widely known as “Mr. Fix-It” for his ability to manipulate people and
processes, cited his “love for our great country and my long years of
involvement in the pursuit of peace, co-existence, and national development,”
as his motive for his intervention.
He urged Makarfi to
personally lead the process of consultation with PDP members in the National
Assembly, with a view to getting them to play a patriotic, rather than partisan
role, during this time of national economic and social uncertainty.
“I feel even more
disturbed that the PDP Caucus is being rumoured to be actively involved in this
plan to “go for the jugular” of the Executive,” he wrote, noting that while the
National Assembly may have its grouse against the President, the options of
consultation, dialogue and negotiation have not yet been exhausted.
“We should all
assist in persuading our members to persevere in the pursuit of these options,”
the former Minister of Works and Housing wrote.
Playing an
unaccustomed role, he argued that an attempt at impeachment, at this time, is
not in the best interests of the party, or the country.
“Such a move will
create tension, instability and even crisis in our body-politic,” Anenih said,
apparently believing the PDP can remove a sitting president in a legislature it
does not control. “It will unleash all
those fissiparous forces which, in the last few months, have begun to gain
momentum.”
He said that as the main
opposition party, the PDP should now concern itself with an inward review of
“why Nigerians lost faith in us and our party’s vision for Nigeria,” and how we
can once again regain this trust.
Calling for
constructive criticism of the ruling party when it goes wrong, he described
playing an active role in the internal power struggles between factions of the
ruling party as an unnecessary distraction, and an exercise that appears to
promote personal agenda rather than the national interest.
“I am not unaware
that the times are hard; that Nigerians are groaning under the weight of unpaid
salaries and astronomical increases in the cost of living, that ballooning
security problems are increasingly threatening to rip apart the fabric of our
national existence, and that Nigerians feel more divided today than they have
ever felt, but it would be unfair to blame this President or this Government
for all of these problems. Instructively, none of these problems was floated as
justification for the threat of impeachment by the National Assembly.”
Turning to the
economy, he said it was well known that all oil-producing countries are
suffering from an economic down-turn because of the radical drop in the price
of crude oil.
“As a mono-product
economy, dependent on crude oil, there is no magic bubble that could have
insulated us completely from the systemic shocks caused by the attendant loss
of revenue.”
To that end, he said
that rather than seek scapegoats, the situation demands that all our
institutions, political parties, and leaders set aside all partisan interests,
and work together to wade through these difficult times.
“It is, therefore,
my wish and prayer that you, personally, lead the process of consultation with
our members in the National Assembly, with a view to getting them to play a
patriotic, rather than partisan role, at this time of national economic and
social uncertainty,” he urged Mr. Makarfi.
Anenih served as
Minister of Works during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first term, during which
about N300 billion was voted for roads that were never constructed. A challenge to that effect was issued by Orji
Kalu Uzor a former governor of Abia State, who insisted that the president asks
the Minister to say what he did with the money.
In later years,
Anenih would emerge not only Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party but
also of the Nigerian Ports Authority and a major force behind President
Goodluck Jonathan.
Political analysts
believe he is a key factor in the PDP corruption story, and its eventual
collapse.
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