Northern coalition wants Nyako impeached over genocide memo

More reactions have continued to trail the memo by Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, to Northern States Governors Forum in which he accused the Federal Government of sponsoring genocide in Northern Nigeria.

The United Nigeria Forum, a coalition of some civil rights organizations at a press briefing held on Saturday at the secretariat of the FCT council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Abuja demanded that the Adamawa State House of Assembly should commence impeachment proceedings against him.

According to the group, the Federal Government should declare a full state of emergency in Adamawa State and install a Military Administrator to stop all the evils being perpetrated by politicians.

The UNF also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to mount pressure on security agencies to effect Nyako’s arrest “because his memo is a dress rehearsal”

But in his reaction, the Director of Press and Public Affairs in Adamawa State Government House, Mr. Ahmad Sajoh, told THE PUNCH that the people making the demands have been paid to do the job to ensure their survival.

According to him, the installation of a MILAD after emergency rule was unconstitutional going by the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the emergency rule which was pronounced by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on Plateau and Ekiti states.

The text of the press briefing entitled – “Governor Murtala Nyako: Desperate agent of destabilization”, was signed by representatives of Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice, Yunana Shibkau; Transparency Centre Network (Umar Farouk) and Northern Emancipation Network (Abdulazzez Suleman) on behalf of Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice, Arewa Transformation Advocacy Movement and Transparency Movement.

They said, “Nigeria is the last hope of the black man and that hope should not be allowed to go to blazes because of the utterances of the likes of Nyako.

“By accusing the Federal Government headed by a Christian from the Southern part of the country of the grave crime of promoting and sponsoring genocide, Nyako’s memo was patently intended to be a call to arms by the Muslim population in the Northern part of the country.

“The members of Adamawa State House of Assembly should, if they are in their right state of mind, commence impeachment proceedings against Nyako. We are calling for his impeachment through constitutional means and thereafter, he should be charged to court. We are happy at the ongoing national conference and as such, the process for the removal of immunity clause should be taken into consideration by delegates.”

The UNF called on security agencies to “go after Nyako and compel him to speak more because there is something he is hiding.

“The Nyako’s memo is a pointed signal of what to expect from the forces that have vowed that, it is either them in 2015 or the whole of us perish. Mr. President cannot go on handling the issues of fundamental threats to the nation’s corporate existence with kid gloves.”

But Sajoh said, “If the government decided to recruit some amorphous groups to make money for them, that is their own business. Are they saying it’s not true that people operate at night when we are supposed to have a night time curfew? Are they saying it’s not true that these people (Boko Haram members) pass through areas that are supposed to have 24 hours military check points? Are they saying it’s not true that these people operate 5-6 hours unchallenged? Are they saying it’s not true that they move with long convoys?

“They can collect money from the Presidency and say whatever they want to say; the reality is on ground and even the President knows he is definitely wrong. How possible was it that when there is a night time curfew and with a 24 hours military check point in every 2-3 kilometer, a large convoy of vehicles came to abduct over 100 school girls in Chibok (Borno State) and disappeared as if they were ghosts? These are questions to be asked if we will ever have peace in this country.”

He also queried how many people have been arrested, tried and punished since the Boko Haram menace became more pronounced.

Northern coalition wants Nyako impeached over genocide memo