The PDP says it has set in motion the machinery to look into the grievances of members of the House of Representatives necessitating their impeachment threat on President Goodluck Jonathan.
The House of Representatives had before proceeding on its annual recess last week given Jonathan till September when it resumes to ensure that the 2012 budget implementation is upped to 100 percent or he will face impeachment.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, however, on Wednesday, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting declared that it was not possible to implement the budget 100 percent.
Sam Jaja, the Deputy National Chairman of the party, while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday said that impeachment threat was synonymous with democracy across the world, adding that “there is no threat actually as it were.”
“It is the usual thing that happens in any democratic process. It is not the first time a president will be threatened with impeachment,” he said.
Jaja observed that the development was not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that in America several presidents had been threatened with impeachment.
“What the party is doing is taking up the process because there is a process with which the party meets the people. This thing must be attended to diplomatically, so that wherever anybody has gone wrong will be sorted out and eventually this storm will definitely die down.”
The deputy national chairman said that though most members of the House were in PDP, they might have their grievances, adding that it would be wrong to lord over them.
He said that the party hoped to ascertain the position of the members and that of the president on the grievances through such machinery.
“There must be an area for the two parties to meet and this thing should be resolved in the interest of democracy in this country.”
Commenting on members of the party that were indicted by the fuel subsidy probe, Jaja said that the indicted members were “on their own.
“These are individuals, everybody bears its own cross, there are governors who are now facing prosecution as a result of their alleged actions and inactions and so it is not a party thing.
“PDP did not send anybody to go and misbehave. Even if you mention my chairman’s son, he is of age. Assuming he is to go to jail they will not come and jail the national chairman because he did not send him. The man is of age and he has household, he has his family, everybody accounts for his own position”.
He, however, stressed that the indicted members remained innocent until proved guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
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