Abuja — Undoubtedly, these are not the best of times for President Olusegun Obasanjo. A few weeks ago, his sit tight scheme was aborted when the National Assembly threw out the constitution amendment bill. Now the president is battling for his political life as a group of federal legislators has kick-started moves to impeach him.

The reason for this is not far-fetched. Obasanjo has indulged in one constitutional breach too many, and as the duty of elected representatives of the people, the members of the Nation Assembly can ill-afford to betray the trust reposed in them by the collective will of the people, if they allow the latest case of executive lawlessness go unpunished.

The case at hand is the withdrawal of 2.1billion naira from the excess crude oil funds in March, 2006. Following speculations that the presidency had been fiddling with the fund, President Obasanjo quickly opened up that he had made the withdrawal supposedly to supplement the cost of the two-day extension of the national census. Curiously, Obasanjo did not bother to inform the National Assembly let alone the nation of this very significant action for over two whole months.

In fact, he kept quite until the probe being conducted by the Senate committee on finance and appropriation started to uncover skeletons in some cupboards. Only then did the president find it expedient to come clean. In a letter to the House of Representatives, Obasanjo claimed $17, 290, 067,(about 2.1 billion naira) was withdrawn after he had convened an emergency meeting of the stakeholders.

He mentioned only some state governors and the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission as the stakeholders who apparently induced him to make the withdrawal. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria expressly forbids such. Section 80(3) of the 1999 Constitution states that no monies shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the federation, unless the issue of those monies has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.

So, the president in his usual characteristic manner deliberately disregarded the constitution. He claimed to have held a meeting with some governors, yet he lacked the courage to name them. In any case, which part of the constitution mandates or permits him to withdraw such monies with the governors' approval? Since when have the so-called stakeholders replaced an Act of the National Assembly as stated in the constitution?

Obasanjo has become infamous for breaching the constitution with reckless abandon, since the advent of his government in 1999. The president has not fully implemented any of the annually budgets approved by the National Assembly. Instead, selective implementation of the Appropriation Act has been the rule rather than the exception. Staggering sums are frequently withdrawn from the federation accounts without following due process.

For instance, $170, 549 006 was illegally withdrawn on December 12, 2005. Also, N846, 544, 06 was allegedly withdrawn on October 31, 2005 just to mention a few. Early this year, the states and local governments experienced sundry financial crises following the federal government's shenanigans with the federation accounts, at their expense. So angry were the two tiers of government over the brouhaha that they jointly decided not to accept their share of the federal revenue until the shortfall, involving billions of naira, was explained.

In 2004, Obasanjo unilaterally granted Ghana and the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe unauthorized loans. Only when an uproar broke out across the land over the presidential braggadocio did he dash to the National Assembly to legitimize unconstitutional indulgence. In the heat of the frenzy to pay off the debt owed the Paris Club of Creditors, the Senate passed a motion forbidding Obasanjo from dabbling into the federation account. In a letter to the Senate dated September 9, 2005, Obasanjo had requested for approval to withdraw $2.4 billion from the account as the government's counterpart fund for the Power Sector Development Scheme (PSDS).

He also requested for $12.4 billion to settle the balance of the debt owed the Paris Club. In its resolution, the Senate told the president that PSDS fund would be obtained only after it had been appropriated by relevant the authorities as required by law. It, however, approved that the $12.4 billion to settle the Paris Club. If the senators thought Obasanjo would honour their resolution, they were soon proved wrong. The president simply spurned their advice, and did as he pleased.

Indeed, he withdrew the $12.4 billion from the federation account instead of the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account which the senate specified. Needless to say, he also withdrew the $2.4 billion PSDS fund without waiting for the approval of the relevant authorities as required by law. Findings from the House of Representatives committee on public finance and appropriation disclosed that the preliminary investigations conducted so far clearly show that impeachable offences have been willfully committed by the same man who had sworn to uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The panel's chairman, Hon. Farouk Lawal, bluntly stated that the president's action was, indeed, padded with irregularities. He, therefore, wondered why, for instance, Obasanjo's request for fund outside the Appropriation Act was never brought to the National Assembly for consideration and possible approval. The impeachment project is being spearheaded by members of the National Assembly from all geo-political zones of the country.

The series of constitutional violations by the president is legion: flagrant disobedience of court order; unauthorized use of the military such as Odi and Zaki Biam,the withholding of the local governments of Lagos State funds in disobedience to the ruling of the Supreme Court are few cases. Constitutional democracy as it is operated in Nigeria is predicated on the rule of law, but in a situation where those that swore on oath to uphold the constitution, are wantonly violating the constitution then such characters on the political landscape should be tactically eased out of the system, so that the country can have a sustainable democratic culture, thereby deepening the roots of democracy in the country.

This is even more so, as a result of the fact that Nigeria has had the misfortune of being ruled by the military for most parts of her post independence years, and this has been the has fate of the country. However, it is worrisome to note that the members of the National Assembly are being threatened by the EFCC and ICPC. It is most unfortunate that the president is running rings around the constitution. And, he ought to be protective of the law, instead of overheating the polity all the time. Therefore, the National Assembly should be allowed to carry out its constitutional responsibility in the overall interest of the country.