There is no impeachment - Murtala Nyako

Across Adamawa State and beyond, rumours of impeachment axe dangling on the head of Governor Murtala Nyako by the state House of Assembly is in the air; yet the supposed actors are always quick to deny the existence of such plot, when confronted with the issue. Speculative newspaper reports and social media posts have charged the atmosphere since the defection of three members to the PDP some two weeks ago. Rumours were abound among politicians that Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio was assigned by the presidency to supervise the removal of Nyako and that N250 million had already exchanged hands. Wafarninyi Theman of Hong Constituency, Simon Isa of Song Constituency and Abubakar Jarengol of Mubi North said they dumped the APC after due consultation with the people in their respective constituencies. The remaining 22 lawmakers, who were hitherto seen as nominal PDP members reaffirmed their membership of the party, making the House an all PDP affair. Both the executive and legislative arms of Adamawa government denied knowledge of efforts to remove Nyako from power, although both stopped short of denying any bad feelings or friction. Outwardly, the APC lost three of its only legislators, but looking deeper in to the crisis, Nyako actually lost 25 allies whose almost subservient support for him made him so unshakeable despite his face off with the Presidency that the alleged impeachment architects could not pose any serious threat. The recent legislative actions of the assembly became a subject of public interest especially with the amendment of the Local Government Law on May 14th in which they stripped the governor of some powers over local government councils. Then the unusually tough stand against the controversial deductions from workers’ May 2014 salary which culminated into an ultimatum for the state government to immediately refund over N142 million to workers and to pay another N2.3 billion in outstanding two months salaries within two weeks. Sudden recourse to over sight functions with such strictness and frequency left much to be desired by political commentators, media men and curious public with some concluding that the demise of Nyako’s tenure was here. The legislators maintained that they were only performing their over sight function as representatives of the people of the state and as provided by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Public curiosity was further heightened when Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso suddenly landed in Yola last Monday to hold a four-hour closed door meeting with Nyako and the legislators where Kwankwaso reportedly urged the two sides to consider the interest of the state and sheath their swords, warning of dire consequences an impeachment move could have on stability of the state and the North. Although the law makers rejected a plea to return to the APC, they reassured the meeting that at no point they contemplated the idea of commencing an impeachment process and there will be nothing like that. The break up between Nyako and his main ally, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Ahmad Umar Fintiri and the lawmakers started immediately after the state congress of the APC where the legislators were reportedly not factored into the governor’s plan for 2015. Sources close to the Assembly indicated that the emergence of BintaMasiGarba from the speaker’s constituency of Northern Senatorial Zone as the APC chairman in the state sent danger signals to the Speaker who is said to have gubernatorial ambition which the governor is fully aware of. So, the Speaker felt betrayed and dumped by a man he stood by all along. “They were not fair to the legislators because their survival is not guaranteed beyond 2015. The governor is planning to bring a set of loyalists as party candidates for the House of Assembly,” the source added. But a Government House source accused Fintiri of being selfish and self-centred to have expected the governor to anoint him as the APC gubernatorial candidate, saying if Fintiri was aspiring for any office he should subject himself to the electorate. Adamawa State Government House spokesman, Ahmad Sajoh denied knowledge of move to remove the governor by the legislators, but fingered a South-South governor as being involved in a conspiracy to instigate legislators and workers against the Nyako government. “We are not aware of anything like impeachment and we have not received any communication from the Assembly to that effect, but we are aware that a South- South governor is involved in a plot to destablise Adamawa and a host of other northern states. It is unfortunate that a governor from South-South will use public funds to create crisis in another state, instead of using the resources to bring development to his subjects,” he said. Meanwhile, Adamu Kamale, Chairman, House Committee on Information blamed mischief makers and rumour mongers for the wide circulation of the impeachment rumour. “We are an Assembly, we cannot act in secret, so, if there is any effort to remove the governor, it would have been discussed on the floor of the House, but that has never happened. Yet people are mischievously peddling unfounded rumours to achieve something,” he stated. He accused a section of the media of feeding the public with mischievous and false information, advising journalists to be mindful of their social responsibility and ethics of the noble profession. The Chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Joel Madaki has, in a statement dismissed the impeachment stories as the wild imagination of sponsored individuals as the PDP has no plans to remove Nyako from office. He, however, admitted that the PDP leadership is solidly behind the legislators in their courageous and patriotic actions against what he called executive recklessness by the administration, noting that the Constitution of Nigeria has provided for impeachment of corrupt officials. He also commended the law makers for choosing to be in the PDP. “The 1999 Nigeria Constitution provides for impeachment of elected officers when they are found to have violated its provisions especially as regards to corrupt practices. The purported plan to impeach Governor Nyako as contained in the paper is a figment of the writers imagination,” Madaki maintained. He accused the governor of corruption and unfair treatment of workers. Nobody is happier with this executive-legislative rift than Chief Madaki, whose numerous threats to deal with on-the-fence legislators failed to yield any result or win them to his side. Neither Madaki’s threats nor his tenacious political sermons could win the allegiance of the lawmakers before the current crisis. Even when the then Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Ahmad Ali Gulak called on the House of Assembly to effect a change of government in Adamawa State, he hardly expected any positive response from the majority-PDP House that has ironically maintained the best relationship with an APC governor. Many observers wonder how Nyako let the Assembly slipped from his fingers at a crucial moment when their support matters most with some describing him as a leader who cannot manage political crisis, pointing out to the dwindling fortunes of his party over a short period since his defection alongside four other governors. The law makers argued that their scrutiny is based on a renewed desire to put checks and balances in the system and to ensure the Executive do not go astray or shortchange the public. Some observers feel that the crisis may snowball in to a concrete impeachment war as the ultimatum given to Nyako to refund N142 million salary deductions has elapsed on Friday, May 30,2014 with no sign of compliance from the governor whose spokesman, Sajoh wondered whether the lawmakers are acting in compliance with the law. “Everything we do is anchored on the law. A lot of things happen in this country that are just grandstanding. Agreed they have an oversight function, but it is limited by the powers provided in the constitution. Does the law allow anybody to give anybody an ultimatum?”he stated.