• Nigerian opposition Senators have pushed for President Muhammadu Buhari to face impeachment.
• The move was blocked by the Senate President, prompting opposition Senators to walk out of the chamber.
• Nigeria is grappling with security issues across its vast territory, including armed robberies and an Islamic insurgency.
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Nigerian opposition Senators have pushed for President Muhammadu Buhari to face impeachment over the country’s escalating security problems, according to the Senate minority leader on Wednesday.

Nigerians will go to the polls in February 2023 to elect a new president in a hotly contested election centred on security and the state of the economy.

Senators from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) attempted to introduce a motion in a closed Senate session giving Buhari six weeks to improve the country’s security or face impeachment, according to Senator Philip Aduda.

“Nowhere is safe in Nigeria, even Abuja. Urgent steps need to be taken … we have given the president six weeks to resolve the issue or we impeach him,” he said.

According to Aduda, the motion was blocked by the Senate President, prompting opposition Senators to walk out. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) controls Parliament, and any attempt to impeach Buhari would require the support of two-thirds of Senators.

In a statement, the White House praised the Senate President for rejecting “the ridiculous motion to impeach our President.”

Nigeria is grappling with security issues across its vast territory, including armed robberies committed by criminal gangs, an Islamic insurgency in the northeast, and a wave of mass school abductions in the northwest.

Lai Mohammed, the government’s information minister, called the impeachment move “propaganda.”
“We are working around the clock… to bring the situation under control,” Mohammed said.

Nigerian authorities ordered schools in the capital Abuja to close on Wednesday, two days before the start of the summer vacation, in order to prevent them from becoming soft targets for terrorists as insecurity spreads, highlighting the country’s security challenges.

This month, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a prison raid in Abuja that resulted in the release of approximately 440 inmates.

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