A rowdy session was witnessed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday following calls by some lawmakers for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari over the unapproved withdrawal and spending of $496,374,470.00 million on the purchase of war planes to fight insurgency and insecurity across the country.

There was sharp division in the House over the decision of the President to expend the unbudgeted sum from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) on the purchase of 12 Super Tucano aircraft from the United States government.

President Buhari had in a correspondence to the House, dated April 13, 2018 and titled “Supplementary Input to the 2018 Appropriation Bill: Purchase of Super Tucano Aircraft from the United States Government” argued that the approval for the procurement was taken by the 36 states governors and the National Economic Council (NEC) on December 14,2017 as the deadline given by the US was nearing expiration.

Shortly after the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara read out the communication, the House Committee Chairman on Public Accounts, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), while raising a point of order said President Buhari’s action was tantamount to anticipatory approval since the National Assembly was yet to appropriate such money in the 2018 budget.

Chinda called for the impeachment of the President over the breach, maintaining that the House of Representatives as watchdogs over the purse of the country must not allow Buhari usurp its powers, arguing that such infraction could only be tolerated in an autocratic government.

Amidst defeaning chants of ‘yes,’ and ‘ no,’ by supporters and antagonists of the point of order, Hon. Ali Madaki (APC, Kano) drew the attention of the House to Sections 11 and 13 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which prescribes that no rule shall supercede constitutional provisions.

Hon. Sunday Karibi (PDP, Kogi) while speaking in support of Madaki insisted that punitive measures must be taken against  President Buhari over the purchase of the aircraft without appropriation from the National Assembly.

Both the House Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyema and Tajudeen Yusuf (PDP, Kogi) who spoke in the same vein urged their colleagues in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) not to take partisan position over a matter that was a clear impeachable offence.

Yusuf specifically wondered why Buhari gave anticipatory approval for the purchase of the war planes which would be supplied in 2020 even when he knew that the 2018 budget was yet to be passed into law.

Sergious Ose Ogun (PDP, Edo) argued that since anticipatory approval was used as a basis to impeach late former Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo, the same measure should be extended to President Buhari.

Hon. Shehu Nicolas Garba (PDP, Kaduna) emphasized that beyond the issue of anticipatory approval, there was need for a drastic action against the President for allegedly spending over ₦4 billion daily to subsidize the price of fuel without approval by the National Assembly.

But Kayode Oladele (APC, Ogun), Munir Agundi (APC, Kano) and Yakubu Balogun (APC, Lagos) argued that the anticipatory approval was not unlawful since it was necessitated by the exigency to tackle the security challenges in the country.

Having sought the views of his deputy, Sulaimon Yusuff Lasun, the Speaker doused the rising tension in the House by ruling that the standing procedure on the issue remained to slate it for debate at an appropriate date on the floor of the House.