The National Women Leader of the All Progressives, Dr Betta Edu, has faulted the threat by the federal lawmakers in the opposition parties in the country to seek the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari if he failed to address the growing insecurity in the country.
The Senator representing Federal Capital Territory and Senate Minority Leader, Phillip Aduda who was joined by his colleagues in other opposition parties at a news briefing on Wednesday vowed to initiate an impeachment process against President Buhari after six weeks if there was no appreciable progress in the battle against terrorists.
The lawmaker’s move was on the heels of growing attacks on the Federal Capital Territory by the terrorists.
Checks revealed that at a Minority Caucus meeting in Abuja on Thursday, the opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives aligned with their colleagues in the Red Chamber. Certain Senators of the ruling APC have also joined in the agitation for the removal of President Buhari.
But speaking on Arise TV monitored interview programme on Thursday, the APC Women Leader dismissed the stance of the lawmakers as unnecessary. She claimed that unlike in the last administration, President Buhari has been very active in tackling the menace of terrorists and kidnappers.
Dr Edu maintained that the Buhari administration has taken every necessary step to contain the terrorists.
She said:” I think we need to be very critical as a nation when we are dissecting issues. If you can remember very clearly, in this country, there was a time when we had regions of this country in the hands of people with flags, flying at different points but that isn’t the case today.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and it takes time to work through this process. Yes, there are challenges but the question is, are there active steps being taken to address these challenges, and that answer is Yes.
“The President isn’t just sitting down and watching. No! He is actively engaging, he is actively pushing to see that Nigerians are secured.
“Remember it isn’t an outright war where you can understand that this is the beginning, this is the end, this is where they are coming from and the rest of it. It is almost like guerrilla warfare where you just come in and after one day, you throw this bomb and run away, go hide and you come out again. ”
While she alleged that certain forces might be instigating the fresh attacks for political gains, she argued that every Nigerian must be involved in collaborative efforts to secure the country.
“First and foremost, I think it’s a collective effort, it isn’t about Mr President alone. He is taking the leadership drive but it is a collective effort.
If you see something and you say something if you can find people who are living together with these people in the same area, strange people coming to your premises, what have you done to alert the security agencies to say, ” I am seeing strange faces around here, I don’t understand what I am seeing? How conscious are we as Nigerians about security?
“Remember, we have a limited number of security forces across the country and it isn’t possible for them to be everywhere at the same time and these people who are really keen on mischief. Probably I don’t want to believe, I strongly don’t want to believe that it is political. I really want to push that back, but it is supposed to be everybody’s business.
“So, when we sit and say, we are going to remove, it isn’t about the President, it is about you. In your village, in your region, in your state, have you been able to critically look at security and ask yourself, what input can I make? We sleep, we wake, we don’t even bother.
“The government is actually working towards securing the country, I think we should step back and give useful criticisms, well-structured ones that can support him (Buhari) take decisions that will be useful to all of us.
“I know he has been having a lot of security meetings and different engagements are going on but I think if we all get involved as a nation. If you see something strange, say something.”
In her efforts as APC Women Leader, Dr Edu disclosed that the APC National Working Committee under Senator Abdullahi Adamu has been making conscious efforts at promoting women’s inclusiveness in the country.
“Like I we said, it is a three-pronged approach aimed at getting women to take Central stage. We first started by giving women free forms.
This will encourage more women to get involved in politics. We went a step further by ensuring two women, out of five delegates at the ward level, local government and the state level must be females.
And for the national delegate, one out of the three must be three. For states that don’t abide by it, we have to push it back to them to review it. “You must have a woman because when you are coming to nation building, election processes, voting on the day of the election and the rest of it, women play a critical role.
So, you can’t deprive them of that opportunity to be part of the entire process. Beyond this, we are looking at situations where we can categorically support candidates.
Next month which is August, we would be having a summit with candidates from our party, candidates who have emerged for the election process.
What does it entail, and how do they need to prepare themselves and they will go a little further to see how we can get kind, spirited individuals of the party and indeed entire structures of APC to really fall behind these women who have really become our candidates to ensure that they emerge as full-fledged owners of those seats. Where we need to do reconciliations so that where we need to go together as one force, we will do same during this short period.”
