Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned any attempt to remove elected leaders by unconstitutional means whatever might be their perceived offences.
Reacting to the outbreak of chaos in the Rivers State House of House Assembly on Tuesday, following the attempt by five lawmakers to effect leadership change, the former Vice President warned against the consequences of going outside the constitution to oust elected leaders.
Atiku Abubakar said in a statement by his media office in Abuja that the constitution of Nigeria was not written on sand so that anybody could breach it as he or she pleases to achieve private motives rather than the public interest.
According to Atiku, any wanton disregard for the sanctity of the constitution or due process in the removal of elected public office holders would seriously harm our democratic order.
He explained that the constitution is superior to any individual and that any efforts to apply barbaric tactics to remove leaders should not be condoned by anybody.
The former Vice President regretted that the failure to punish similar crude attempts in the past such as the Ngige saga in Anambra State in July of 2004 had encouraged impunity among those seeking to impeach elected leaders by means other than that enshrined in the constitution.
He regretted a situation where some misguided elements would seek to wage a war on our democracy for which many had paid the supreme price.
“It is sad that those who are seeking to subvert our nascent democracy are some of those who never fought for what that many laid down their lives for. These persons are advised to take heed to the festering crisis in Egypt following a forced change of leadership in that country,” Atiku said.
“We can either dismiss what happened today in Port Harcourt as one more incident in the long line of impunity and constitution abuse, or we speak very strongly against it, sending thereby an unambiguous message to the powers-that-be that sweat and blood of fathers, mothers and children, which were used to nurture the tree of our democracy must not go in vain,” the statement concluded.
