Former Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representative, Ghali Umar Na’abba who just last week abandoned the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Jumped on the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, train, has revealed the he regretted not impeaching former President Olusegun Obasanjo, while he was speaker.
Na’abba who spoke in an exclusive intervier with Sunday Punch regretted that it was his decision to “water down” the impeachment proceedings against Obasanjo that made Nigeria the mess it is today.
Revealing the some elders were sent to come and exhort them against the impeachment at that time, Na’abba said, “We backed down because some elders were asked to come and exhort us to accepting to water down the impeachment.
“Eventually, we were persuaded not to continue, not because we were not right or because we were not sure we were going to succeed, but because these elders told us many things about the unity and stability of this country.
“Eventually, we heeded and I must admit that I regret listening to them because it as a result of us listening to them that Nigeria is in this mess today.”
On why the impeachment proceeding was instituted from the onset, the former speaker stated that, “Our reasons were cogent and verifiable, there were several constitutional breaches. The budget was not being implemented as well as a lot of other things, which are in public domain.”
Agreeing that his tenure as Speaker marked one of the most turbulent relationships between the executive and the legislature in the history of the country, Na’abba said it was so because, “We had philosophical differences.
“While in the legislature, we believed that politics should be developmental, the executive believed that politics should be about power. Because we had these differences, the stage was set for a clash between the legislature, particularly the House of Representatives, and the executive arm.
“That was what took place during the four years that I was Speaker. I thought that the key to the sustenance of democracy was the legislature and that the legislature must be defended in anyway and that was why I ensured that nobody messed around with the legislature and in the process, we almost impeached the President.” (Elombah).