Nyako’s Impeachment: Confusion Looms In Adamawa Mohammed Ismail Confusion is looming in Adamawa state over the on-going attempt to impeach governor, Murtalla Nyako and his deputy, Bala Ngillari, because the tenure of the acting Chief Justice of the state, Justice Ambrose Mammadi, expires today. The chief Justice had constituted a seven-man panel on Friday to investigate allegations of gross misconduct brought against the Governor and his deputy by the state House of Assembly. But with his tenure expiring today and the panel expected to be fully inaugurated on Monday, stakeholders in the state are waiting to see who will inaugurate the six-man panel that will pave the way for them to commence full impeachment move against the governor. Already, sources from the Adamawa state Government house are saying any inauguration by the acting CJ is unconstitutional as his three months tenure will elapse today. The Director of Press and Public Affairs to Governor Murtala Nyako, Mallam Ahmad Sajo when contacted over the issue said, the acting CJ can only inaugurate the panel in breach of the constitution as his tenure will elapsed today (sunday) Efforts to contact the chief judge were not successful. However, an attempt to contact the registrar of the High Court, Abubakar Babayola to comment on the expiration of the tenure of the chief judge proved abortive as calls to his phone were not answered. Meanwhile, the impeachment itself has taken a new dimension, as allegations were rife that the acting chief judge was forced to constitute the seven-man investigative panel. Some APC stalwarts in the state who pleaded anonymity said they suspected foul play in how the panel was set up. According to them, the Chief justice, knowing his tenure will expire today didn’t want to constitute the panel, but was consequently forced to. It is also alleged that despite governor Nyako publicly absolving the presidency from having a hand in his travail, suspicion of the Presidency’s involvement was fuelled by the no-love-lost relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Murtala Nyako which came to its nexus when Nyako sent a memo to the Northern Governors’ Forum accusing Jonathan of carrying out genocide against northerners. Since then, President Jonathan was said to have decided to ease Nyako out from office as the memo was said to have subjected the presidency to embarrassment and international ridicule. A source at the Adamawa State High Court told LEADERSHIP in confidence that the chief judge was actually compelled to constitute the panel under duress. The source further revealed that some soldiers have been drafted to the house of the acting CJ to keep tabs on him. When reporters went to the house of the acting chief judge, a soldier was seen on surveillance and wielding an AK 47 assault rifle. Responding to the alleged deployment of the military at the acting CJ’s house, the army PRO of the 23rd brigade Nuhu Jafaru said he was not aware of the development. Speaker motivated by greed and selfishness – APC The national vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress, northeast, Engineer David Lawal, has accused the speaker, Adamawa State House of Assembly, of being motivated by inordinate ambition to move for the impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako and his deputy Bala James Ngillari knowing that he will benefit from the move. Lawan, who said this at an APC stakeholders’ forum in Adamawa State, also said their party would resist attempts by “forces of darkness “ because “ we have a very big task ahead of us for whic, we need a highly mobilized, motivated, united and committed party membership that is supported with a robust infrastructure in both human and capital terms”. He said the speaker has no moral justification to impeach the governor as the votes that brought him to office is around 1 per cent of the total registered voters in the state. It is unheard of for a person that controls 1 per cent vote to be allowed to remove the governor that has the majority votes of the state, he stated. “I have taken an analytical look at the figures scored by all the perpetrators in the saga during the 2011 elections. Out of a total registered voters of 1,817,708, the 25 members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly scored a total of 351,113, that is, 19.3 per cent. “To put it in a proper context, my very good friend and brother the speaker scored a total of 19,036 votes or 1 per cent of the registered voters of the State to represent the good people of Madagali in the State House of Assembly.” He accused the PDP of shunning democratic norms. “In the PDP, we have an opponent that lacks any sense of morality, recognizes no rule of engagement, and considers the national treasury as being synonymous with its party’s accounts and controls the national security infrastructure as if it is a party security outfit,” he said. According to him, the leaders of the party at national headquarters and in the north-east zone are up to the task of addressing the impunity of the PDP, adding that they would use all avenues at their disposal to call the bluff of the party. “It is this opponent that has descended on us the innocent people of Adamawa State. And as they usually do, they do so through a few of our local brothers and sisters. In any society, there are always people that are motivated by greed, malice, envy, revenge and inordinate ambition. We also have our share of such people in this state,” he said. He alleged that the PDP had identified such people in its midst and has appropriately motivated them “to cause division, confusion and anarchy in our great state”. “As if the threat of Boko Haram insurgency is not enough, they now want to impose on us religious, sectarian and tribal tensions,” he said. “Mark my word: this is their intended goal with this attempt to replace a legitimately elected government with an appointed one. At the centre of this impeachment saga is satanic ambition and greed,” Lawan alleged. “It is very sad indeed that while Boko Haram is ravaging Madagali LGA, freely killing and maiming its citizens, taking their women and youth into slavery, burning their houses and looting their properties, its elected representative is busy engaging in power grab. “Please tell me: what kind of ambition is this? As for the rest 19 members, what do you think motivates them? Greed, pure greed and nothing more, and we the good people of Adamawa State are expected to sit back and watch? And maybe even applaud? Please, count me out. “Once again, mark my words: Adamawa State and indeed Nigeria will never be the same again if we allow this satanic impeachment to succeed. These people are only doing a trial run at the behest of Abuja interests. We hear they might attempt Nasarawa State next; and from there your guess is as good as mine – maybe
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 15:13:22 +0000
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