Ortom: Buhari speaks on ‘involvement’ in Benue Assembly’s impeachment notice

President Muhammadu Buhari has spoken on the impeachment notice served
on Benue Governor Samuel Ortom by eight members of the State House of
Assembly.

Buhari's reaction was contained in a statement Tuesday morning by his
spokesman, Femi Adesina.

It read: "Even while attending the ECOWAS/ECCAS Summit in Togo,
strident attempts were being made to drag President Muhammadu Buhari
into the unfolding drama between the executive and the legislature in
Benue State.

"Statements have been issued by different interest groups, insinuating
that the President may have a hand in the development in Benue. This
is paranoia at its worst, coming from people who have wittingly
positioned themselves against the clean-up of the country, and the way
we do things. They prefer business as usual.

"President Buhari will never be part of any unconstitutional act, and
any attempt to link him with the inglorious past, when minority number
of lawmakers impeached governors, will not stick. It will simply be
like water off the duck's back.

"Those with open minds know this, but those who cavil would rather
source everything untoward to the President. It is murky ground in
which they are now marooned, as fallout of their resistance to change
in the country.

"When it suits them, they preach separation of powers and true
federalism, and in another breath, they call on the President to
interfere brazenly in affairs at state level.

"President Buhari will always stand by all that is noble and fair, and
will reject attempts to drag him into infamy. People who stoke fires
by deliberate acts of omission or commission, and then summon the
President to come and put it out will find that this President will be
guided by the Constitution at all times, no matter the attempt to
entangle him in unwarranted controversies."