Sen. Matthew Urhoghide (PDP -Edo South) has described claims that he called for President Muhammadu Buhari’s impeachment on the floor of the senate as false.
He said it would be “stupid” of him to demand the impeachment of the president in view of the lengthy steps involved in the process as enshrined in Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution.
Urhoghide, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, allegedly made the call for Buhari’s impeachment at plenary on Thursday, while reacting to the Presidential order to withdraw $496 million for the procurement of 12 Super Tucano aircraft from the US government without approval from the National Assembly.
However, addressing journalists at the Benin Airport on Saturday, he said his impeachment call was made up.
He said he only told the senate to invoke the relevant section of the constitution so that the president could come and defend his actions before the senate.
Some All Progressives Congress (APC) youths in Edo State had attacked the senator at the airport over the purported call.
He said, “The President had a good intention of buying the equipment but the procedure was wrong . And he too has accepted that it was wrong . We (lawmakers ) swore to uphold the Constitution .
“ An impeachment , if you check Section 143 , is a long process . The first thing is you have to do an investigation and then correspondences will be entered into ; the President has to be written by the President of the Senate , who is the chairman of the National Assembly.
“ Then, of course , he (Buhari ) too will reply and this has to go on for a long time . We have not reached this issue of an impeachment . Nobody on the floor of the Senate mentioned that the President should be impeached.
“ So if the papers said that somebody said that the President should be impeached , it is out of ignorance. I am very proud to be a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria , representing Edo South senatorial district.
“ As the Chairman , Senate Committee on Public Accounts , all revenues and expenditure fall on my table . So , this is part of it . So , they (critics ) should be proud that this is what it is. The Constitution is above every person . So , we have not reached the point of impeachment . ”
He added, “ That was why the Senate President said that we should refer it to the judiciary, so that it would advise on what to do . So , an impeachment is not the first thing ; if I come and even say that the President should be impeached , I am ignorant.
“ Section 143 is a very long section. So , if you look at the processes, you will know that it will take a lot of actions . So , if I moved a motion that the President should be impeached , then I must be stupid.
“I only said, ‘Invoke Section 143’ so that processes will be followed; the President will still explain and the National Assembly will still have do some enquiries.”