APC: Jonathan ruling by vindictiveness

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of ruling by vindictiveness.

The party was reacting to allegations that the presidency was plotting the impeachment of Aminu Tambuwal, the speaker of the house of representatives, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC on Tuesday.

It warned the federal government to desist from inducing members of the house of representatives to sign a paper seeking to reconvene the house ahead of the December 3 date of reconvening.

“We have heard from the grapevine that the federal government is inducing legislators with a view to reconvening the house, but this will amount to piling illegality upon illegality since only a resolution by all principal officers of the house can reconvene the house,” Lai Mohammed,  national publicity secretary of APC, said on Friday.

“We cannot put anything beyond a government that will unlawfully withdraw the security details of the country’s number four citizen, who has not been removed as the speaker of the house of representatives, simply because he decamped from the ruling party to the opposition. For as long as he remains speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is entitled to all the statutory perks of his office.

“The administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is ruling by vindictiveness, rather than in accordance with the rule of law. Despotism, arbitrariness and impunity are the watchwords of the Jonathan administration, hence it has desecrated most national institutions, including the judiciary, and has now put the legislature in its cross hair.

The legislature is one of the last standing institutions after the onslaught of the ravaging Jonathan administration, which has nothing but contempt for the concept of the separation of powers, the rule of law and perception of the country by the international community.”

Mohammed argued that for this government, it is power for the sake of power, not for the achievement of anything ennobling.

“That is why the police and SSS details of a man who remains the country’s number four can be removed without consideration to what the law says. That is why public funds will be used to induce lawmakers to sign for the reconvening of the house when it is clear that only the principal officers, and not even the Speaker alone, can reconvene the house before the adjourned date.

“This president has said publicly that he does not give a damn. This administration has shown clearly that it does not believe in the rule of law. Therefore, it does not matter to the president or his administration what the civilized world thinks of the country, as long as he can have his way, using all sorts of dirty tactics, including unbridled corruption that is the hallmark of the administration.

“We are therefore calling on all concerned citizens to condemn what is happening in our country today before one desperate power monger brings the country crashing down on all of us. This is because even if the Jonathan administration is voted out of office next year, it will take a long time to reverse the harm that is being done to national institutions, which have become punitive tools in the hands of an increasingly despotic leader.”