The African Democratic Congress has said President Bola Tinubu has allegedly been breaching the 1999 Constitution of the country, which it said provided sufficient justification for the National Assembly to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.
According to the ADC, Tinubu’s write-off of debts owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to the Federation Account, without approval of the National Assembly, is unconstitutional.
On December 29, reports emerged that Tinubu had approved the write-off of approximately $1.42bn and N5.57tn in outstanding liabilities owed by NNPC to the Federation Account.
Commenting on the development, the ADC, in a statement issued on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bola Abdullahi, cautioned that the action could place additional pressure on the nation’s already fragile fiscal structure.
The ADC maintained that as much as 96 per cent of the dollar-denominated liabilities and 88 per cent of the naira-denominated debts were written off through an executive directive without recourse to the legislature, contrary to the provisions of Section 162 of the Constitution.
The statement partly read, “The ADC is especially concerned that nearly 96 percent of the dollar-denominated legacy obligations and 88 percent of the naira-denominated legacy balances were written off by executive directive.”
This write-off was done without legislative or parliamentary approval or clear constitutional authority.
“We have said it before, and we will say it again: President Tinubu has repeatedly violated the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Even more worrying, however, is what appears to be active collusion or willful surrender by the National Assembly. Ordinarily, these egregious assaults on the Constitution should be sufficient grounds to commence impeachment proceedings.
“As a nation of laws, and not of men, no president can override what the Constitution protects. The Federation Account belongs to all tiers of government and cannot be subject to the discretion of the Federal Executive or the President.”
