Adamawa Impeachment: Panel Ignores Holiday, Begins Sitting In Hotel BY MOHAMMED ISMAIL — July 8, 2014 Amidst tight security, the seven-man panel constituted by the acting chief judge of Adamawa State, Justice Ambrose Mammadi, began sitting in defiance of the public holiday declared by the state government to forestall further moves against Governor Murtala Nyako. The panel’s inaugural sitting, which held at J & J Holiday Villa located at Atirwucha Close in Karewa GRA of the state capital, reportedly compelled Governor Nyako to cut short his trip to Abuja even as reports had it that he was contemplating resignation to pre-empt the outcome of the panel’s report and the state lawmakers’ next line of action. The resignation rumour could not be confirmed as at press time. The governor’s chief press secretary, Ahmed Sajoh, could not be reached but an aide of the governor confirmed to our correspondent that the governor was on his way back to Yola. “We are on the way back to Yola — I mean the governor is returning to Yola from Abuja. I cannot say anything now. I will call you as soon as it is convenient to do so,” he said. Buoyed by the holidays declared for Monday and today (Tuesday), and the expectation that the seven-man panel needed to be inaugurated before it commenced work, Governor Nyako was said to have left Yola for Abuja yesterday on an official assignment. The declared holidays were said to be moves on the part of the governor to outwit the state legislature and the chief judge whose tenure expires today. But the lawmakers have also described the holidays as self-serving and ill-timed. It was gathered that the panel’s sitting commenced shortly after the chief registrar of the High Court, Yola, Abubakar Babayola, told journalists that the inauguration of the committee was not a requirement as it was nowhere in the constitution. At the venue of the panel’s sitting, security was heavy, just as journalists were barred from covering the maiden sitting. Stern-looking soldiers and policemen maintained surveillance at strategic positions in and around it. But civil servants in the state complied with the holiday given by the government yesterday as all government offices across the state were under lock and key. Earlier in the morning, the panel was scheduled to be inaugurated as announced by the chief registrar of the state High Court, Babayola, but that was not to be as the state government, on Sunday, declared Monday and Tuesday as public holidays ostensibly to prevent the acting chief judge from inaugurating the panel. Commenting on the development, the chief press secretary to the Speaker of the House, Mr Solomon Kumanga, disclosed that the House has no powers to interfere with the committee’s duties as its mandate has been completed when it ordered the acting CJ to constitute the panel. Declaration of public holiday ill-timed, self-serving – Adamawa lawmakers Meanwhile, the Adamawa State House of Assembly has condemned the two-day holidays declared by the state government, saying it was ill-timed and self-serving. In a press statement signed by the chairman, House Committee on Information, Mr Adamu Kamale, and made available to journalists in Yola, the House contended that the declaration of the two-day public holidays could have been more appropriated when Adamawa State lost many of its indigenes in violent attacks by gunmen in Numan, Lamurde, Michika, Madagali, Maiha, Ganye, among others, in the past. The Assembly also chided the state government for its failure to settle workers’ salaries, adding that “information available to the House shows that Adamawa State salary account has never been frozen at any time by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); rather it is the capital account that was frozen”. The lawmakers commended the judiciary for setting up the seven-man investigative panel, challenging the governor and his deputy to use the avenue to clear their names against the allegations of gross misconduct brought against them. “Now that the panel is in place, the stage is clear for the governor and the deputy governor to disprove the allegations against them as required by the constitution rather than throwing stones at the House. “It is pertinent to note that the recent statement by the governor of Adamawa State, Murtala H. Nyako, exonerating the Presidency from complicity in the service of the notices of allegation of gross misconduct against the duo has vindicated the position of the House,” the statement noted. The lawmakers pledged to continue rendering their constitutional responsibilities to the Adamawa people despite threats on their lives in the wake of impeachment notice they served on Governor Nyako and his deputy.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 02:43:00 +0000
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