Shehu said the impeachment threat was an unnecessary headline grabbing stunt by a confused people while Adesina dismissed the impeachment ultimatum as flippant.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Presidency last night pooh-poohed opposition senators especially members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over Wednesday’s threat to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari as a result of the worsening security situation in the country.
Presidential media aides, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, both waded into the matter describing the opposition lawmakers in the Red Chamber as flippant and confused people.
The Presidency also said that what the people require from the PDP Senators was their collaboration in the efforts of the government to solve the problems Nigerians face on a daily basis.
While Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, issued a statement, Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
Mallam Garba Shehu said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was committed to finding lasting solutions to the emerging security threats, including those left behind by the PDP administration.
The statement read: “The performative and babyish antics of those senators staging a walk out notwithstanding, Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s refusal on Wednesday to entertain the ridiculous motion to impeach our President was quite appropriate and correct.
“Rather than making a mockery out of voters by trying to imitate what they see in America, the opposition would be well advised that their time would be better spent tackling the pressing issues Nigerians face, such as the current global cost of living crisis.
“Their continued failure to do so goes some way to explaining why they remain in opposition.
“In contrast, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is committed to finding lasting solutions to the emerging security threats, including those left behind by the PDP in the South-South, the Northeast and throughout the federation.
“In the last 24 hours, two more Chibok girls were freed, in addition to the three brought home last week.
“These kinds of headline grabbing stunts for which the opposition is now well known serve no one, least of all their constituents. We would respectfully remind them that it is those same constituents that they were elected to serve, and are paid to do so with public money.
“We would welcome their collaboration in our efforts to solve the problems Nigerians face on a daily basis. No one is asking them to waste their time attempting to impeach a democratically elected President at the end of his second term – certainly not their constituents.
“They should ask themselves: do they want to be in government or do they want to be in the headlines? If they want to be in government they should start acting like it and stop undermining Nigerian voters.”
Earlier in the day, the lawmakers in the Red Chamber staged a walkout and threatened to commence impeachment proceedings against President Buhari should he fail to address the insecurity within the period given by the lawmakers.
Reacting to the development on Channels Television, Adesina dismissed them as people merely playing to the gallery, adding that there was not much they will do after the drama.
“I think it was just bravado, and sadly, security is not something you subject to bravado. You don’t begin to issue flippant ultimatums in something that is a matter of life and death,” Adesina asserted.