Oshiomhole fires on making it clear the only way Saraki can avoid impeachment is to resign

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman Adams Oshiomhole has once more laid down the gauntlet for senate president Senator Bukola Saraki making it clear to him that the only way he can avoid impeachment is if he resigns.

Over the last two weeks, Mr Oshiomhole and Senator Saraki have been at each other's throats following a series of defections in the National Assembly with about 15 senators and 37 members of the House of Representatives leaving the APC to join the main opposition the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Amidst all the turmoil, Senator Saraki declared that he too has left the APC and joined the PDP, prompting Mr Oshiomhole to call for his immediate resignation as senate president.

However, Senator Saraki has dismissed the calls, saying he was elected by a majority of senators and the only way he can be removed from office is if two thirds of senators vote to impeach him. Refusing to accept Senator Saraki's continued stay in office, Mr Oshiomhole met with APC senators and members of the House of Representatives yesterday, where he claimed that the senate president is now a member of the minority following his defection to the PDP.

Mr Oshiomhole said: “Democracy teaches us that minority has the right to have their say but majority must have their way. So, if we have 56 senators and they have 49 senators, I insist that 49 senators cannot preside over the affairs of a house in which APC has 56 senators and I ask them to tell us anywhere in the world where the minority rules over the majority.

“Often, we take flights to Washington and other places to understudy the American presidential system of government and there, once you lose majority, without further ado, you step down. Over and above all of these stories about illegal impeachment, let me restate that we cannot be subjected to minority rule in the Nigerian senate and therefore, whether it is convenient for Distinguished Senator Saraki or not, the truth is whether by morality or by law or by convention, Saraki can only avoid impeachment by toeing the path of honour and stepping down so that APC can take over the leadership of the senate."

He reiterated that Senator Saraki will be lawfully and democratically impeached as senate president, adding that it will not be done illegally done but according to law and tradition. Mr Oshiomhole reminded lawyers who he said have chosen to sit as judges, that they are at best, officers of the court and do not constitute the court.