Alhaji Sani Mohammed Sha’aban, a former House of Representatives member and 2023 All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Kaduna State, has said the threat by the National Assembly members to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari was laughable.
According to Sha’aban who is also an in-law to Buhari, the lawmakers themselves were partly responsible for the economic and security challenges bedeviling the country.
He argued that the lawmakers have failed in their oversight functions, especially with regards to security and economy, alleging “they are only interested in oversight functions when they are broke so that they can get allowances and ‘Ghana must go’ attached.”
Sha’aban, who spoke to newsmen in Kaduna on Wednesday, described the threat to unseat Buhari as laughable and a huge joke.
He added that the National Assembly members were carrying out the threat for election purposes, saying that “some National Assembly members who have failed in their representative duties and lack what they will tell to their constituents in seeking re-election, were behind the impeachment saga, as they want to use President Buhari as scapegoat.”
Sha’aban, who represented Zaria Federal Constituency in the National Assembly between 2003 and 2007, said, “I look at the stand they (National Assembly members) took as a huge joke. In fact, it is laughable.
“One thing we should know is that Nigeria is not operating in isolation, the rest of the world is watching us. We are in a democracy, even though we borrowed the system from the western world, the other part of the world doesn’t practice democracy the way we are practicing ours.
“We should realize that in the House of Representatives, the Senate, they function under various committees and those committees are in charge of what we call oversight functions but what is happening today? Where are the oversight functions? What happened to reports of activities within the security apparatus?
“So, if anybody will wake up today, coming from the Senate or House of Representatives and points accusing fingers on President Buhari on security, I challenge that person to go and impeach Buhari tomorrow if he dares.
“As you point your finger, millions of people from your constituency will point finger at you. You say you are representing them, is it when it pinches most that you will find a scapegoat? And you want to make Buhari a scapegoat?”
He added, “Was there any time when there was financial request and he passed it and the heads of agencies and parastatals, the service chiefs and others in charge of security…. was there any time they were punished by the National Assembly? So, why President Buhari? Who is deceiving who? So, let us treat this matter very seriously.
“I happen to come from Zaria and there’s no place in the world that I can cherish, respect and value than my origin. Wherever I go in the world, I don’t feel comfortable until I step foot in Zaria, because that is where I come from. But today, Zaria is under the siege of bandits, you can hardly sleep.
“So, this is not a joke. Our farmers cannot go to farm, our schools are closed down, so many institutions are close down, we can barely go out to carry out our basic activities for the day without the fear of being kidnapped, bandits are coming from left, right and centre.
“Look at Giwa, look at Birnin-Gwari, Chikun, Kajuru. All these are parts of Kaduna that, today whether you like it or not, you cannot afford to stay beyond 6:00pm, you have to move.
“But then, somebody will just come because he feels the time is here to recontest and come back to the National Assembly and he doesn’t want his people to ask him what he has done as their Senator or Rep member. So, he can be saying it is the fault of Buhari. That is bullshit. We must tell ourselves the truth.”