Can this be a new trend in African politics? We have seen Waa Juwara
publicly accusing his party leader for certain things and now Obasanjo
being asked to resign or face impeachment by his own ruling party. When is
it coming to APRC's turn?

Momodou Camara
--------------------

LAGOS, Aug 17 (AFP) - Nigeria's ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said
on Saturday an impeachment motion against President Olusegun Obasanjo voted
by its own members in parliament this week was tantamount to "treason".
   The House of Representatives, consisting mainly of PDP members, on
Tuesday gave Obasanjo two weeks either to resign or face impeachment for
alleged incompetence and abuse of power.
    PDP chairman Audu Ogbeh told reporters after a party meeting to discuss
the issue that legislators should have notified the party before passing
the impeachment motion.
   "The party made it clear that the method used in this motion of
impeachment -- the secrecy, surprise and target -- smell of treason against
the party," he said.
   "If there was any reason to issue an ultimatum, the PDP members should
have issued it to the party and waited for the party's reaction before
proceeding to threaten impeachment," he added.
   Ogbeh said another meeting of party members has been scheduled for
Thursday where "the issue of impeachment will be laid to rest."
   Obasanjo dismissed the impeachment threat, while a spokesman for the
army, which has a history of military coups in the vast west African
nation, insisted it would stand aside from the debate and not do anything
to "subvert the country's nascent democracy".
   In a separate development, the country's second largest political party,
the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) said it planned to sue the country's
electoral commission over a failed congress to elect new national officers.
   ANPP spokesman Ibrahim Modibo told reporters the electoral commission
would be sued for refusing to supervise a July 27 congress.
   "We are going to make the commission pay for the deliberate, frivolous
and unwarranted abortion of our national convention," he said.
   The congress, attended by some 6,000 delegates from the 36 states of the
federation, was underway when top officials of the party received a court
injunction stopping the proceedings.
   The ANPP had to postpone the congress indefinitely, the third this year
by the party which wants to elect new leaders to run its affairs after the
expiration of the two-year terms of the current officers, elected December
2000.
   The party came second to Obasanjo's PDP the May 1999 general election.
The next general election in Nigeria is to be held next year.

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