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If you start to take Vienna - take Vienna. --- Napoleon Bonaparte

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The governors also acknowledge that it would not be statemanly to ask Na'Abba and his colleagues to drop the motion outright but pleaded with the Speaker and the principal officers of the House to allow dialogue to prevail.

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No Plan to Expel Na'Abba, Others from PDP - Ogbeh
· Sues Anyim for N500m
From Chuks Okocha and Chuks Akunna in Abuja --ThisDay

As part of the reconciliation between the presidency and the House of Representatives over impeachment motion on the former passed by the latter, National Chairman of Peo-ples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Audu Ogbeh has assured that leadership of the House of Representatives could not be expelled or suspended from the party.

This comes on the heels of a court case instituted by Ogbeh against Senate Presi-dent, Anyim Pius Anyim, and two others claiming N500m over alleged libel arising from the N120m saga.

At a reconciliatory meeting between the House caucus of PDP and the Central Working Comm-ittee of the party held last week at the party secretariat in Abuja, THISDAY gathered that the National Chairman openly assured the legislators that there were no plans to expel them from the party.

The assurance from the Nati-onal Chairman was against the backdrop of the threat by PDP to expel the key members in the impeachment saga should they refuse to drop the threat against President Olusegun Obas-anjo.

There were also threats by the Kano State chapter of PDP to expel Na'Abba and some key members. The Kano State Chairman of PDP, Yusuf Ciroma Kutama was quoted as saying that there were strong indications that Na'Abba may be expelled.

But, at the meeting summoned by the Central Working Committee of the Party last week, Na'Abba raised the issue of threat to expel him and some of the members.

Sources said that the Speaker sought confirmation from the National Chairman, whether there was plans to expel them or not as result of their role in the impeachment saga.

According to sources at the meeting, Ogbeh denied any plan to suspend or expel Na'Abba and the principal officers of the House.

Ogbeh was quoted as saying that "PDP has no intention to take any punitive measure against any House member over this matter."

In fact, Ogbeh told the meeting that the PDP Chairman in Kano has been summoned by the party and cautioned over his utterances that Na'Abba and others could be expelled for their role in the impeachment saga.

THISDAY gathered that Na'Abba complained that the face off between the House and the Presidency was being personalized to mean that he was the one spear-heading it.

The party leadership at the meeting presented a 4-count proposal to the House as a framework of reaching a truce in the face-off between the House and the Presidency.

In another development, Ogbeh, has instituted a N500 million libel suit against Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim and two others before an Abuja high court. Also joined in the suit is a national daily.

The move came against reports that the Presidency had waded into the protracted feud between the PDP chairman and the Senate President and that the intervention had yielded fruits with both parties reportedly agreeing to sheathe their swords.

Ogbeh, through his counsel, Dr. T. C. Osanakpo, in the suit filed on August 19, 2002, is seeking redress for an alleged libelous publication at the instance of the Senate President alleging that he, under questionable circumstances, requested for the sum of N120 million from Anyim. The case comes up early September.

It may be recalled that THISDAY had exclusively reported recently that the PDP chairman was contemplating a court action over what sources close to him said was "a deliberate attempt at defaming his character."

Anyim had in the thick of his face-off with the PDP chairman, among other things, accused Ogbeh of attempting to obtain the sum of N120 million from him "under false pretences."

He equally accused Ogbeh of siding with governor of his home state, Ebonyi, Dr. Sam Egwu, because the governor allegedly agreed to bankroll his (Ogbeh's) recent reception, and for allegedly jerking the price of chairmanship nomination forms from N15,000 to N210,000.

Ogbeh's latest move, THISDAY gathered, may be a pointer to the fact he has succumbed to the pressure mounted upon him by some of his close political allies and members of the party National Working Committee (NWC), to sue Anyim "in order to clear the fog which the allegations brought to bear on his (Ogbeh's) credibility."

Sources close to the party national secretariat also informed THISDAY that Ogbeh may have been prodded into making up his mind on suing Anyim on the strength of the belief that the Senate President is the mastermind of a recent suit against the PDP National Working Committee (NWC).

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As Obasanjo Vows Not to Compromise on Principle...
Senate Backs House, Reopens Constitutional Breaches
• Ogbeh fears for PDP
From Ali M. Ali, Eddy Odivwri, Chuks Okocha, Bature Umar and Chuks Akunna in Abuja

The Senate yesterday passed a resolution backing the House of Representatives which penultimate Tuesday gave President Olusegun Obasanjo a two-week ultimatum to resign or be impeached. Also, the House Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus yesterday set up a seven-man committee to compile the president's constitutinal breaches which would be submitted to another committee of the party. However, Obasanjo said nothing would make him compromise on matters of principle just as PDP chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, expressed the fear that the crisis will affect the party's chances in the coming polls. Adopting a motion of urgent national importance moved by Senator Jonathan Zwingina, the Senate gave its ad-hoc committee set up before its last recess the power to liaise and collaborate with the House, consultants and other Nigerians with a view to investigating the alleged constitutional and budgetary breaches committed by the president since he assumed office and make recommendations in strict compliance with provisions of the 1999 Constitution. By yesterday's resolution, the Senate has re-opened the debate earlier initiated in June on the constitutional breaches allegedly committed by Obasanjo with regards to successive Appropriation Acts since 1999. Senator Idris Abubakar had last June moved a motion arguing that Obasanjo had consistently flouted the law by not implementing fully federal budgets approved by tha National Assembly since 1999. The controversy the motion stirred was soon doused following the decision of the Senate to set up a committee to consider all the arguments and come up with recommendations. The Senate adopting Zwingina's motion yesterday, resolved that the action of the House to apply the relevant portions of the constitution against the president for allegedly breaching the law became necessary in public interest. The Senate which recorded unusually high turn out of 93 senators yesterday said the Ad-hoc committee harmonizing the findings of the Idris Abubakar-led Public Accounts Committee should "co-operate and collaborate with the House of Representatives by acting in strict compliance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution", in the course of its investigation of the President's offences. The committee while doing its job was also directed to "reject, avoid and discard all references, actions, statements and aversions that dwell or relate to sentiments, ethnicity, religious differences, geo-political considerations and restricting itself and all aspects of its conduct to the supreme objectives of upholding the constitution and duty to the fatherland and nothing else." Presenting the motion earlier, Zwingina said Nigerians had looked forward to democracy and democratization since independence as a precondition for the growth and development of the nation and its people, but these, according to him, now appeared threatened. The motion read in part:

• Whereas the expectation of stable democracy and democratization have continued to elude Nigeria, the Nigerian people, however, have remained resilient and resolute in their determination to enthrone democracy, as government of the people, by the people and for the people, which abhors any form or manner of dictatorship;

• Whereupon, the advent of democracy on the 29th May 1999 was truly greeted with national excitement and expectation as witnessed during the swearing in of the various elected leaders throughout the nation and of Mr. President and Vice-President at the Eagle Square;

• Whereupon, Nigerians were equally jubilant and expectant during the inauguration of the National Assembly.... As an Assembly expected and mandated by section 4 of the 1999 Constitution to make laws "for the peace and order and good governance of the federation or any part thereof;

• Whereas, the National Assembly conscious of its national responsibilities and cognisant of the expectations of the people for rapid improvement in their living conditions and speedy transformation of their economic and social infrastructure, desired to support the Executive by ensuring the timely passage of Appropriation Bills 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 including Supplementary Appropriations which were all assented to by Mr. President;

• Whereupon, to the dismay of the National Assembly and the disappointment of Nigerians the various Appropriation Acts since 1999 to 2002 have been observed more in their breach than in their compliance, despite the unparallel financial fortunes of the government and the claims of the executive for prudent management and respect for the constitution;

• Whereupon, and rather contradictorily, the value of the Naira began a steady decline against other currencies, leading to loss of moral confidence and trust in the Nigerian economy by local and foreign investors alike;

• Whereupon, the nation witnessed and continues to witness wide-spread crisis and conflicts, resulting in death and destruction among hitherto peace-loving and peace-living communities in such states as Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa among others;

• Whereupon, to the dismay and consternation of Nigerians and their foreign friends no legal proceedings have been brought against either the sponsors or the agents of these criminal acts, including the tragic but embarrassing inability of the executive to bring the murderers of the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige to face justice among several monumental executive incapabilities and failures;

• Whereupon, the impression has transformed into reality that the executive is totally incapable of restoring peace and stability to the polity and throughout the nation;

• Whereupon, several foreign and local investors have withdrawn, and continue to withdraw from business activities in Nigeria resulting in negative travel advisories by some foreign nations warning their citizens against visiting Nigeria, with the attendant economic implications for the nation;

• Whereas the nation has been gripped by the above maladies, the President of the Federation has found little time to attend these spate of crises in the land as a result of 113 foreign trips accounting for one year absence from the country in a period of three years, thereby abdicating his leadership responsibility in restoring normalcy and guiding directly and checking the conduct of his ministers and ministries;

• Whereas the National Assembly has always been willing and ready to support Mr. President in the resolution of serious national issues awaiting attention, the President has found it convenient to ignore the National Assembly and its leadership and practically consulting only with the Federal Executive Council and state governors on matters that lie within the constitutional province of the National Assembly;

• Whereupon the President has elected to ignore the National Assembly, he has also elected to ignore the Judiciary by proceeding with actions and conduct specifically outlawed by the nation's Supreme Court;

• Whereupon it has become manifest that the President is unwilling or unable to work harmoniously with the leaders of the various organs of administration and institutions of democracy at the national level, thereby rendering the constitutional responsibilities of these institutions irrelevant, ineffective and otiose in complete disregard of the provisions of the constitution pertaining to checks and balances in the polity;

• Whereupon the House of Representatives compelled by the above frustrations issued an ultimatum to Mr. President with the hope of generating a positive response and amicable resolution of all the outstanding issues itemized in the House resolution;

• Whereas the two-week ultimatum which expires today, should have been utilized to redress, correct and reconcile various aggrieved interests in the nation, the breathing space provided by the House was tragically described as "a joke, a joke taken too far" by Mr. President himself;

• Now therefore, this distinguished Senate do wish to resolve and hereby resolves as follows;

• That by the reason of the above stated facts and the expectant state of the nation, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria do mandate its committee on non-implementation of Appropriation Acts 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 set up on the 20th June, 2002 to immediately "co-operate and collaborate with the House of Representatives and any other body including the executive, and hire consultants by acting in strict compliance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution; and

• Reject, ignore, avoid and discard all references, actions, statements and aversions that dwell or relate to sentiments, ethnicity, religious differences, geo-political considerations and restrict itself and all aspects of its conduct to the Supreme objectives of the constitution and duty to the fatherland and nothing else.

The debate on the motion which was seconded by Senator Gbenga Aluko was almost one-sided as efforts by Senator Oserhiemen Osunbor urging his colleagues to await the outcome of the report of the ad-hoc committee investigating the same breaches failed. Aluko said the Senate should look at the motion dispassionately because "Nigeria is today experiencing a nation with an auto pilot and that since Mungo Park discovered the country it has never had it so bad." Senators Saidu Mohammed Dansadau, Tokunbo Afikuyomi, Idris Ibrahim Kuta, Haruna Abubakar, Lawali Shuaibu and Rowland Owie all supported the motion and called for the application of the maximum sanction against the president in the event that he was found liable by the Senator Mohammed Tukur Liman- led committee. Those who opposed the motion include Senators Osunbor, Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, Tunde Ogbeha, David Mark, Akpan Udedehe, Adebayo Salami. Also in Abuja, the House PDP caucus yesterday set up a seven-man committee to catalogue the constitutional breaches against the President. The chairman of the House Committee on Information, Lawan Farouk, said the committee has members drawn from each of the six geo-political zones. They are Olu Mafo (Ondo) representing the South-west, Obeten Okon Obeten (Cross River) representing South-south, Abdul Haru Mashe (Katsina) representing North-west, Abdullahi Idris (Bauchi) representing North-east, Salisu Raj (Nasarawa) representing North-central and Celestine Ughanze (Anambra) representing South-east. Iquo Minima from Cross River State is representing the women in the House. The committee is expected to submit its report on the breaches tomorrow to the PDP House Caucus, which would in turn vet and then submit it to another committee set up by the party after which the committee would present the charges to Obasanjo. The president is expected to respond to the charges within seven days, failing which impeachment proceedings would begin. Lawan, who described yesterday's meeting as fruitful and cordial, confirmed that the PDP House caucus meeting is expected to continue tomorrow. He also said if "any position would be taken on the matter, then it has to be taken by the entire House and not the PDP caucus of the House." In this regard, he said, the leadership of the House has been mandated to meet with the leaders of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the House. The meeting, he said, was to intimate them with the decisions so far reached on the resolution urging the president to resign or face impeachment proceedings. Also yesterday, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees and chairman of the Nigeria Security Minting and Printing Company (NSMPC) expressed his support for the motion passed by the House asking the president to quit or face impeachment and urged the Senate to toe the same line.

Speaking in an interview with THISDAY Monday night, Rimi fresh from a foreign trip noted that all the charges levelled against Obasanjo are valid. "The president is not doing his job. He has not stayed in the country long enough to work in the interest of the country. In the last three years and three months peace, progress and economic advancement have eluded the country. "Inflation, unemployment have risen, social services have deteriorated, our industries are dead and there is nothing positive that has been achieved since Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office on May 29, 1999," Rimi said. He therefore, urged all patriotic Nigerians and lovers of democracy to support the House and the immediate impeachment of the president "if he is not honorable enough to resign on his own." Rimi who has severally restated his intention to contest the 2003 presidential election, dismissed as false that impeaching the president will heat up the polity describing proponents of the idea as sycophants. "You can impeach the president even if he is going to leave office tomorrow. The records will show that somebody who has been the president of this country has mismanaged the affairs and has shirked his duties, which he swore by the Bible to do, and has not improved the quality of lives of Nigerians. He does not deserve to remain in the villa one minute longer. "All these excuses that the president's tenure has come to an end and therefore should not be impeached are all bunkum. After all the president wants to continue. He is desperately fighting to continue for another term. Look at all the propaganda about the need for continuity. For what? Continuity of evil, of crisis, of mismanagement?" he asked. But Ogbeh addressing newsmen at the end of a 70 minute meeting with Speaker Ghali Na'Abba warned, "This crisis will affect the chances of our party" since "there is no way the House (PDP) can be in a state of disorder and generate confidence in the public." Explaining his mission to the House, Ogbeh said he came to confer with party members "as they were about to discuss the matter, " a reference to the resolution urging the President to resign or face impeachment proceedings. Ogbeh said the PDP believes "the appeal of the party will have some impact," but said the party will meet with Obasanjo to discuss last Sunday's national broadcast where he (the president) dismissed the impeachment threat as a huge joke taken too far. He said House members objected to the President's choice of words, adding, "We have drawn his attention to what we considered necessary in that speech especially the aspect, which needed to be improved upon but we are going to do so formally." "The President, I think is going to listen this time round because a committee is going to come up on the issue and the party has to put its foot down this time and everybody complies with what we say," he said. However, Obasanjo yesterday sounded a note of warning that Nigeria may not get a second chance of redeeming the democratic government if the present one is allowed to crash, adding that he would not compromise on matters of principle.

A statement from the office of presidential spokesman, Tunji Oseni, disclosed that the president spoke while playing host to members of the Cross River Elders' Forum led by Chief Matthew Mbu who paid him a solidarity visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Although the President said he was prepared to be flexible where necessary so as to make the democracy of the country to survive and wax stronger, he ruled out any compromise on matters of principle. "I am prepared to be flexible where necessary, understanding where necessary, but on no account will I compromise on matters of principle," he said. He noted that while he is making all efforts to resolve the problem with the House, to ensure democracy does not fail, he warned that the success of another attempt cannot be guaranteed." Earlier, Mbu had presented a letter of solidarity to the President on behalf of the Forum and the Cross River State House of Assembly. The 12-man delegation included Governor Donald Duke, frontline women leader, Mrs Margaret Ekpo as well as Dr Joseph Wayas, Second Republic Senate President and Speaker of Cross River House of Assembly, Mr Gabriel Edi. Meanwhile, AD yesterday urged elected office holders to desist from breaching the constitution in order not to truncate the nation's democracy. Speaking at the start of the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, AD National chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Abdulkadir, said it amounted to a breach of public trust and confidence for elected office holders, particularly the president and National Assembly, to carry on with scant regard for the constitution. "Let me remind the members of the National Assembly and the president that they are all representatives of the people of this country, who expect responsive and responsible governance from them," the AD chairman said adding, "There is no justification whatsoever for the leadership to betray the confidence reposed in them by the Nigerian people." Abdulkadir urged "our leaders to show exemplary respect to the constitution," as, according to him, "minor and occasional breaches of the constitution will only help to destabilise the little we achieved in our democratic experience." He said that "we must, as a nation, avoid criminalisation of policies and issues to satisfy egocentric feelings," while calling for "exhaustive dialogue and matured display of tolerance by all leaders as a means to fostering peace, justice and progress." He lamented the face-off between the president and the House at a crucial period of the nation's life, the eve of general elections. "We cannot afford to miss our fourth and perhaps, last opportunity to democratically develop our nation by ourselves," he said. "The task of nation building is enormous. It certainly calls for tolerance, dialogue, maturity and level-headedness. AD condemns a situation where, because of reconcilable differences among the leadership of this country, millions of people are plunged into serious hardship and penury. "This situation is unacceptable...and we (AD) shall, therefore, utilise all our democratic credentials to anchor this national drift," the party vowed. AD also frowned at what it described as "the reported incidence of high-level corruption by top officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)," adding "unless credible Nigerians with unquestionable integrity are appointed or elected to serve in public office(s) our collective quest for sustaining and developing this country will continue to be elusive." The party, however, urged the police and the courts to ensure a quick dispensation of this "test case," just as it encouraged its members to fully participate in the forthcoming voters' registration exercise.

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