House of Representatives Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila
Onyebuchi Ezigbo
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has described the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the resignation of the House of Representatives Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, “as highly subjective and utterly illogical.”
In a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, CPC said PDP is just being hypocritical and adopting blackmailing tactics.
Fashakin said PDP’s move is not unconnected with the recent motion by Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, on the floor of the lower legislative House, for the commencement of impeachment proceedings on President Goodluck Jonathan should he fail to implement the 2012 budget by September this year.
“CPC has noted the highly subjective and utterly illogical call by the PDP South-west leadership for the resignation of Gbajabiamila, the House of Representatives’ minority leader, to resign his appointment on account of his indictment by the state of Georgia’s Bar for professional misconduct,” he said.
Fashakin said the ruling party is obviously rattled by this call and believed that the messenger of a good message must be smeared and vanquished even if there is no justifiable basis of it.
“True, Gbajabiamila was indicted for a professional misdemeanor by a Bar Association and had received a just comeuppance for the act. True, the Nigerian Constitution stipulates a ten-year ban for anybody in the polity to hold political office after criminal conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction,” he said.
The CPC spokesman said the brewing has thrown up a number of issues, among which whether the call by the PDP is a natural consequence of Gbajabiamila’s effrontery in demanding for the impeachment of Jonathan for non-implementation of the budget?
“Another issue was Gbajabiamila convicted by a court of law?, is every professional indictment coterminous with criminal conviction?”
Fashakin said CPC viewed PDP’s call as an attempt in extirpating the hope of ensuring scrupulous implementation of the 2012 budget.
“Is this another attempt in discrediting the messenger of a good message as a subterfuge for perpetuating imprudence and impunity in Nigeria’s political governance?
“Is this another attempt by the PDP-led Federal Government to tamper with the constitutionally- entrenched separation of Powers?
Fashakin said: “as a party, it is our considered view that this PDP’s call is unpatriotic, selfish and ludicrous; it must be condemned by all patriotic Nigerians. We view this as an unpatriotic attempt to muzzle a federal legislator who has progressively contributed to national discourse with courage and demonstrable candor,” he said.