Due to fear of the house minority aggregating into majority in the House of Representatives, the Presidency is said to be taking steps towards the removal the speaker of the lower chamber of the legislative, Aminu Tambuwal and any other member of the house who could be influential to a motion for President Goodluck Jonathan’s impeachment.
It has also been alleged that the pro-Jonathan meeting cuts across party lines as it is being attended by some PDP, APGA, Labour including some members from the APC.
A source revealed recently that there are alleged plans in the offing to remove Tambuwal and his other supportive principal officers as it is believed that the Baraje-led New PDP is gaining more supports in the house and this is believed to be a counter-move to any plans the emerging majority may have.
According to source, the Presidency is jittery with the alleged budding relationship between the Speaker with the G-7 governors and the New PDP faction as it was learnt that the Presidency suspected that the rebellious governors of the party and the Kawu Baraje faction were scheming to merge with the opposition members in a bid to “reduce PDP into the minority party in the House”.
According to one of the principal officers of the House, it was alleged that the group was plotting the impeachment of the president.
“What is happening is that they have fears in the Villa but nobody is moving towards the impeachment of the President. They do not know that we have decided that the leadership will remain but should the G-7 governors defect to APC, the House Leader, Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande will seamlessly transform into a minority leader, the source explained.
But the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Chief Victor Ogene confirmed the plot when he said that the House members had been called to meetings at the Presidential Villa and outside the seat of power.
“Well, what I do know is that members have been meeting in various caucuses, including state and party caucuses. As parliamentarians, we will not stop our members from attending meetings.
“The unity of the House of Representatives is sacrosanct but any member who goes ahead to attend a meeting that is injurious to our unity will only put himself or herself up for sanctions.
He noted that it has been confirmed that the presidency is holding meeting with some identified members of the House both he said he was not sure of where “the inducement is coming from” hence, he does not want to start speculations.
“We have been hearing rumours of attempt by different interest groups to sway members one way or the other but I wish to say that the leadership of the House is up to the task of keeping the House as one whole unit.
“You could see this from the rousing welcome given to the Speaker on the floor of the House today.”
Ogene also said that the Speaker and his team are neither shaken in any way nor are they threatened.
It was also gathered that the Presidency is acting on intelligence reports on plan by the House to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan or make governance difficult for him due to his undeclared ambition for reelection into office by 2015.
The Presidency is however now fighting hard to avoid to Mrs. Mulikat Adeola who is pro-President Goodluck from being dislodged form her position as the House Leader.
It was also alleged that a key official of the House is the arrowhead of lobbying House members who are now aiming at removing Tambuwal and other anti-Jonathan principal officers.