The House of Representatives yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to consider giving political asylum to outgoing Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to encourage him to relinquish power following his defeat at the poll.
The House also said it would begin considering the 2017 budget estimates next week.
Jammeh has rejected the result of the election won by Adama Barrow and his is also not fully cooperating with international bodies asking him to stand down on January 19.
The decision of the lawmakers followed the adoption of a motion by Sani Zorro (APC, Jigawa), who supported the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional mediation efforts led by President Muhammadu Buhari to find lasting solution to the political impasse in the Gambia;
He said: “We are all aware that the clock is ticking fast for the survival of democracy in the country and there is therefore the need to intensify preventive diplomacy to save the Gambia from descending into chaos with dire consequences for the West African sub-region, as a result of a likely armed conflict and mass displacement of persons;
“Cognizance is also taken of Nigeria’s past leadership roles in restoring peace and settling conflicts in various Central, Southern and West African nations, including the Congo, Chad, Southern African countries, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, etc;
“We can not claim to be unaware of Nigeria’s policy of extending safe-haven status to endangered African leaders as part of dispute settlement and that such gestures had, in the past been extended to Presidents Felix Malloum of Chad, Siad Barre of Somalia, Thabo Mbeki of the African National Congress (ANC), Messrs’ Charles Taylor and Yomi Johnson of Liberia and several other leaders.
“The asylum option has become more necessary because military action is being considered as a last resort to take out Jammeh but as a member of the sub-regional body, all efforts to prevent a conflict should be explored by Nigeria.”
Many representatives supported the motion whci was passed by a voice vote when called by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.
House Spokesman, Abdulrazaq Namdas (APC, Adamawa) at a weekly press briefing yesterday said work is almost completed on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), a prerequisite for the consideration of the budget document.