NASARAWA: THE TRIUMPH OF REASON Reason prevailed and democracy as well as the rule of law triumphedlast week Tuesday, when a probe panel ended the almost a month-old altercation between Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura and members of the state house of assembly. The “not guilty” verdict by the seven wise men of the law was the balm the state needed to ease the mounting tension created by the action of our dear ‘honourable’ members. For putting out the flame intended not only to consume Al-Makura, but the entire state and its peace loving people, the panel showed wisdom and justice. It spoke the mind of the people of the state, who had earlier revolted against the unpopular action of the members. So the verdict is a victory for the masses of the state,who are the centre of policy andprogrammes of the people’s governor. Al-Makurais a product of the people; they literally brought him to power. They stood by him when elements within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who think they own the state, denied him the ticket to serve them on its platform. The people, not Al-Makura triumphed in the end by throwing out the old-order, when they voted overwhelmingly for the incumbent. And in reciprocation, the governor ensured that every of his deed as the helmsman was centred on the people. Three years on, Lafia has ceded its decades-old status as a glorified local government headquarters to that of an enviable state capital. Asphalt roads transcend every nook and cranny in the ancient town. The T. Abdul Kura street, Abdul Shatu-Adamu Mua’azu road, Agwai-Angwan Nugu junction, Lafia East-Government guest house with spurs towards Makonjigi, People’s Bank-New market dualisation, UAC-Gonar MallamS arkin road, Awe Street, Stanbic Bank-Kurikyo road among others are the pride of an average resident of the state capital. Approximately, 80 kilometresof asphalt roads were completed in Lafia within the period, while 4 km asphalt roads in 12 other towns are on as well as 600km rural roads. The people will always rise in defence of the governor because for the first time, storey buildings have dotted the landscape of even primary schools across the state. Thirty-four two -storey 8-classroom blocks have so far been constructed by the administration, while800 three classroom blocks were also built across primary schools in the state. More than N1 billion was spent in providing furniture for primary and post-primary schools across the state. Today, pupils no longer study under trees, or on floors. The administration has also built classrooms in post-primary schools, while hostels have sprung up in all tertiary institutions in the state. The people would revolt against any attempt to unseat the incumbent because for the first time, multi-million naira hospital projects have sprung up across the three senatorial districts of the state. About 150-bed hospital is being built in Lafia, the state capital, Akwanga and Nasarawa Eggon. The people would protest because they don’t need to trek far distances to access potable water; farmers now smile at the end of every farming season, while traders and market women have locations to transact their businesses. The people will agitate because for the first time, civil servants are been paid as at when due, even with the minimum wage. They do not have to wait for an overdraft of N850million to be taken from a bank before they are paid as was the case during the old-order. They will revolt because their state has been liberated from the chains of debt the PDP government plunged it into by Al-Makura, who had to pay the N40 billion bank loans he inherited.So the people would rise and they did rise when their so-called representatives at the state assembly dared them by raising the impeachment axe against their own. They took to major streets in Lafia, Karu, Akwanga, Keffi, Nasarawa, Wamba, Keana, Awe, Doma, Obi and Kokona among other towns. The protest attracted the leaderships and members of the Association of Market Women, Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, student union bodies, Keffi Traders Association, National Association of Road Transport Owners, National Union of Road Transport Workers, religious leaders, as well as political groups. The number of protesters grew by the day, while the protest lasted, with the people insisting it was time to commence a recall of the lawmakers.Yes! The people are angry because the very people, who pledged to represent them are working against them, so what is the need keeping them at the assembly anyway? What is more, the members did not deem it necessary to consult their constituencies before a decision on a matter as serious as the recall of the governor was taken. Who then are they representing? Themselves apparently! And so the people set motion for their recall them back home. The people are angry because even the resolutions and motions so far initiated by the so-called representatives are anti-people. They denied the youth employment by the removal of appropriation for empowerment programme that would take the jobless from the streets. The members shoot themselves in the foot, when the youth empowerment matter was advertised in the newspapers along with other issues in the impeachment notice. Apart from the youth empowerment issue, the members also see the introduction of minimum wage, which would have cushioned the suffering of civil servants as illegal. It also ordered the stoppage of laudable programmes such as biometric exercise and digitalisation of land matters by the state government. Then there is also the issue of the controversial law prescribing one year tenure for local government chairmen, when the assembly overrides Al-Makura to pass into law, the state Local Government Amendment Bill 2013 despite rationalisation by stakeholders that it treads with caution. The governor had written to the house to reconsider their stand, intimating them of the implication of their decision. He told them that apart from the fact that chairmen and councillors so elected would hardly settle down to work before their tenure expires under the new law, it would be wasteful on the part of government to conduct election into the council every year. Tenable as the governor’s intervention is, the assembly went ahead to override him by passing the bill into law in a manner described by those who should know as an abuse of legislative process and anti-masses. The members by that singular action showed that the relationship between them and the governor is frosty, but in getting at him, they chose the wrong weapon and the casualty as it were, are the very people who elected them in the first place. The members do not really deserve to stay because while they illegally appropriate funds for themselves, state assembly workers suffer in silence. Greater numbers of the assembly staff are on casual basis and the members and its leadership do not deemed it necessary to effect the necessary changes. To continue with this impunity, it has prevented the transfer of the director finance and external auditor from the assembly, while its accounts remain unaudited because of the insistence of the members. The members did not also deemed it necessary to organise public hearings before laws are passed and there is never a time they reached out to their constituencies before major decisions concerning the people are taken among other offences or do we call them breaches? So our members are not as clean as they made the public to believe. They went for equity but their hands are soiled up to their shoulders. And the manner and haste they went about the impeachment process showed apparent ignorance of the law and an immaturity that offends sensibility. No wonder they could not appear before the panel to defend their allegations. But litigation arising from the action of members would further expose their ignorance when it will be determined that they erred in law in all ramifications. We will be able to know at a later date whether their purported service of notice of the allegations of gross misconduct for the purpose of impeaching the governor, vide the media or newspaper publication is valid or constitutional within the meaning of section 188(2) of the 1999 Constitution. We will also know whether or not the said purported Notice of Allegation of Gross misconduct for the purpose of impeaching Al-Makura was duly served on each member of the 24 members of the state assembly as envisaged by section 188(2) of the constitution, let alone fulfilling the conditions for impeachment proceedings. It would also be in the open whether or not the purported passing of a motion by them for the investigation of the allegations of gross misconduct against the governor and the purported request by them through a motion requesting the Chief Judge to appoint a panel of 7 people to investigate the governor is valid having regard to the provisions of section 188(4) of the constitution. The panel as it were, gave them soft-landing by merely dismissing the allegations and acquitting the governor and that is the most important thing to do at this juncture. The verdict has calmed frayed nerves and reduced tension across the state. Muhammad Inuwa wrote in from Akwanga, Nasarawa State via Weeklytrust160814
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 18:32:47 +0000
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