PDP Plot against Al-Makura thickens as Nasarawa lawmakers complete probe [The Nyako Treatment] Lawmakers in the Nasarawa State House of Assembly have rounded off a month-long investigation into the expenditure profile of the state government since 2011 when Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura assumed office, sparking off fresh allegations that the House is resurrecting its old impeachment plot against the governor. On November 3, 2013, members resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to look into reports presented by four standing committees which carried out oversight functions on the government of Al-Makura between May 29, 2011 when the governor assumed office, and November of that year. The Francis Orogu (Keana)-led ad-hoc committee was mandated at a plenary session to look into reports of the House committees on Public Accounts; Health; Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs; Commerce and Industry and Capital Market; all of which alleged extra budgetary expenditure amounting to about N3 billion. Before the House went on the ongoing recess, members again mandated two separate committees: a joint committee of Public Accounts and that of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs; and Public Complaints and Petitions committee to carry out separate probes of the government. The joint committee probed SURE-P funds going to the local governments. The Public Petitions committee entertained a petition by some contractors, and probed into the expenditures and transactions of the state Universal Basic Education (UBE). Hearing into the probes was concluded last week. The two committees are expected to complete and submit their reports soon. This development has sparked off fresh wave of allegations that the House is plotting another impeachment process against the governor. The Presidency has also been dragged into the alleged plot to impeach Al-Makura. The PDP members in the National Assembly from the state are said to have also joined in the plot. But denials have continued to come from the lawmakers, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which members control the House with 19 against 5 of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which formed the government. But the dust raised the allegations has refused to settle down. Sunday Trust gathered that the state lawmakers met twice in Lafia with the PDP members in the National Assembly and the state PDP to perfect the plot which will prompt legislators to rush back from recess to commence deliberations that will lead to the impeachment notice. An impeachment notice, it was also learnt, had already been written ahead of the planned members’ return from the recess, with inputs from the Presidency, the PDP national leadership, as well as the PDP members in the National Assembly. The second Lafia meeting mandated three elders of the PDP in the state to work on the Judiciary to “soften the ground” preparatory for the alleged impeachment plot. Sources close to the state legislature also said the two meetings resolved that Dameshi Barau Luka, Governor Al-Makura’s deputy who has long defected from the APC to the PDP, will just spend the remaining months of the tenure as he will not contest again in 2015 if the alleged impeachment plot succeeds. Luka, the sources said further, will pick his deputy from the House. Thirteen state lawmakers were alleged to have first met in the private residence of one of their colleagues in the Southern zone of the state. The second meeting was claimed to have expanded from 13 to 17, in the private residence of a top PDP chieftain with representatives of PDP bigwigs in Abuja. Al-Makura, a founding member of the PDP in the state, dumped his old party and took over the Government House on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). His victory ended the PDP’s 12 years’ rule in Nasarawa State. Barely two years in office, Al-Makura had quarrel with his deputy, Luka, who accused his boss of running his own show contrary to the ideals of the change slogan which united them in 2011. Luka, who defected on March 3 this year, has not met with his estranged boss since he moved to the PDP. At the same period, in quick succession, the state APC lost its majority representation in the National Assembly to the PDP which had to endure a defeat on the same seats in the 2011. Senator Solomon Ewuga (Nasarawa-North), Rep Joseph Haruna Kigbu (Lafia/Obi), Rep David Ombugadu (Akwanga/Nasarawa-Eggon/Wamba), and Rep Ishaq Kana (Keffi/Kokona/Karu) left the APC for the PDP. The defections happened shortly after reports of a similar impeachment plot which was equally alleged to have had the sponsorship of the Presidency and the PDP in February, an allegation which the Presidency, the PDP, as well as the House members swiftly denied. The latest purported impeachment plot which has been reported earlier is coming five months after the first one, an allegation which the PDP swiftly denied through Oliseh Metu, the party’s spokesman, who insisted that Al-Makura had to face his lawmakers and deal with the problems of his state. The state assembly also denied meeting in Abuja as alleged in the reports, just as the House denied the two Lafia meetings. Mohammed Baba Ibaku (PDP, Udege/Loko), who is also the House Committee Chairman on Information told Sunday Trust, last week, that members did not meet to perfect any plot against Al-Makura. Ibaku also denied allegations that members had personal problem with Al-Makura. “These allegations are cooked to smear us. It is sponsored as plans to stop us from doing our constitutional duties. We are on recess. We do not meet anywhere in the night. We don’t have such plans. I am not aware of any member who meets in a plot to impeach the governor,” he said. Ibaku said the reports of the latest probes by the two committees which completed hearings last week would be submitted soon, stressing that the reports would determine the action that lawmakers would take against the executive arm of government. “We have rounded off our investigations. The committees will come up with the reports in the House. Investigations have been concluded. As soon as the reports are ready, they will be tendered. It is after the submission of the reports that the House can take actions,” Ibaku said. He also denied the claim that an impeachment notice had been written. The state PDP also denied hoding a secret meeting with the state lawmakers. “No meeting took place between the party and members. They are just making up stories to shore Al-Makura’s image and paint the House and the PDP in a bad picture,” Mark Yohanna Neto, the state party’s spokesman told Sunday Trust on phone. But the governor’s Special Adviser on Special Duties, Barrister Abdullahi Mohammed, who had earlier commented on the alleged Abuja meeting, told Sunday Trust that the governor was not aware of any meetings either in Abuja or Lafia. But Mohammed confirmed that the government was not unaware of rumours of alleged plots to impeach the governor. “We have said this before. We still wish to sound clearly that the governor is not bothered to go round to make confirmations whether there is an impeachment axe or not. He is delivering on the mandate of his people, God’s own people. We consider those rumours as a distraction from focus,” he also said. He said the government was aware of the existence of provisions for impeachment which guaranteed the right of fair hearing. The governor, when he recently spoke on the allegations against him, declined to make straight comments. He said: “I am a true democrat, and that is part of the ideals of the APC. I recognize the constitutional duty the legislature has to strengthen democracy. The House is currently investigating me, true, but I look at that as part of the necessary Checks and Balances, a necessary principle of democracy. “I am doing my best to comply with constitutional provisions for the office of the governor, but I also need a push to do more. The state lawmakers are that push. I am like gold which must pass through fire for its preciousness to come out. I am like tea bag which must be let inside hot water for its sweat aroma and fine colour to come out. The legislature is that fire, or hot water; not to burn or hurt, but to strengthen the system with legislative governance.” Meanwhile, Sunday Trust gathered last night that a top monarch in Nasarawa State yesterday commenced moves to appeal to the two warring sides in the secret fight to sheathe their sword.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 14:07:39 +0000
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