A vacation judge at a Federal High Court in Lagos, Justice Okon Abang, on Tuesday adjourned till September 5, 2014 to entertain a suit seeking the reinstatement of the unseated Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako.
Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako
The suit which was filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Olukoya Ogungbeje, was said to be seeking fundamental rights enforcement.
Before adjourning the suit, Abang had said in a bench ruling that he was convinced that the matter was urgent and deserved the attention of the vacation court.
The judge who said his jurisdiction as a vacation judge was limited to the South West zone, however added that the parties would still need to convince him that he had territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit on the adjourned date.
Joined as the first to sixth respondents in the suit are the Adamawa State Acting Governor, Umaru Fintiri, the Adamawa State House of Assembly, the outgone Chief Judge of Adamawa State, Justice Ambros Mammadi, Chairman of the impeachment panel, Buba Kajama, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Inspector General of Police.
While the applicant was represented in court on Tuesday by his lawyer, Mr. Nelson Okedinachi, there was however no legal representations for the all the six defendants.
When the matter was called, Okedinachi told the court that he brought an application seeking the leave of the court to be heard during vacation pursuant to Order 46 Rule 5(2) of the Federal High Court Rules.
While urging the court to grant the leave for hearing, the applicant’s counsel said that the suit had a lifespan and that it would die a natural death if it was not given speedy hearing.
ABUJA — Forty days after being removed from office, Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd) has expressed hope that he will return to his post since his traducers did not follow the laid down procedure in ousting him.
Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako
Nyako, who has already filed an appeal at the Appeal Court against his impeachment, said there were justifiable reasons to prove that he was unjustly sent packing from his office by his opponents, who breached all the rules all in their desperate bid to get him out.
Nyako in a statement made available to Vanguard in Abuja yesterday, by his media adviser, Mr. Sajoh Ahmed, said he was confident that the court would return him to office since the process leading to his forceful and undemocratic sack was illegal.
The former governor said he was optimistic the Nigerian judiciary, which is blessed with men of integrity and honour, would not find it difficult to restore him to his position given the gamut of evidence that his opponents violated all the provisions of the law in edging him out for political reasons.
He said he was confident that since the judiciary had in the past upturned the removal of governors Joshua Dariye of Plateau, Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo and Peter Obi of Anambra, it would not be difficult for him to be restored since he was forced out of office by desperate elements.
While remaining upbeat about his return to office, Nyako urged his supporters in the state to embrace the current reality and prepare for the October 15 by-election, which he believes would be a repeat of the case in Anambra State when Andy Uba assumed office after winning an election, only to vacate office after 16 days when the courts returned Peter Obi.
I can’t support PDP
Nyako also vowed to remain within the APC and support only APC candidates in all elections at all levels and at all times.
He said his faith in the APC was bolstered by the fact that the party has proved to be truly democratic and progressive by the manner it has handed over its nomination process to the people at the grassroots as opposed to those who hand over the process to some unknown political godfathers in Abuja or the state capitals.
The former governor denied claims that he was supporting a certain PDP governorship aspirant for the forthcoming by-election, saying that his support remains with the APC at all times.
He said: “Anyone who supports a PDP candidate in the state has done so in exercise of his or her democratic rights as citizens but not as a result of a directive from Admiral Nyako or in support of his political position.
“This clarification is necessary in order to debunk the rumour being peddled by some mischief makers in Adamawa State.”
HOW did ousted governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Hammanyero Nyako, escape from Nigeria a few hours before his impeachment despite the presence of eagle-eyed security agents waiting to arrest him to answer for his actions?
Governor Nyako
This is a question that has continued to prop up within the security establishment in Nigeria now that it has become clear that the former governor had fled the country and settled in Europe, apparently to avoid being prosecuted or persecuted by his traducers.
Nyako, according to findings by Saturday Vanguard, escaped from Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in a private jet on July 15, 2014.
The former Chief of Naval Staff’s successful flight from the country at the time he did, is said to be causing unease and serious embarrassment to the nation’s security establishment, as it is being suspected that the man could not have taken off without the support of insiders.
Saturday Vanguard was told by competent sources that Nyako was assisted to flee by those who were also detailed to stop him from slipping off their hands.
It was learnt that Nyako had sought the assistance of some sympathetic security agents and secured their subtle support on how to leave the country undetected just before his ouster by the House of Assembly and beat the hordes of security agents, who had been detailed to arrest him.
The former Chief of Defence Staff is said to have made arrangements to leave Yola, the state capital for Abuja a day before his impeachment, having been convinced that the seven-man panel raised by the House of Assembly had indicted him on many fronts.
It was learnt that on the day of the impeachment, Nyako had prepared a phantom convoy of about 10 cars, which he used in confusing security agents to believe that he was still around in the country, many hours after he had sneaked out of town.
According to a competent source, who was privy to the movement, Nyako had earlier that morning of July 15, 2014, left his Abuja residence with some of his close aides in a private car and was ushered into a waiting private jet at the NAIA Abuja.
The jet, according to the source, is owned by a top Nigerian, who is sympathetic to Nyako and believes that he was hounded out of office because of his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
The source explained that since the former governor’s flight from the private wing of the NAIA Abuja was pre-arranged, security agents, who would have arrested Nyako on arrival at the airport, rather gave him a quick pass and he flew out of the airport in a jiffy.
Findings show that about an hour after Nyako’s plane had taken off from the private wing of the airport, his phantom convoy made its way to the airport giving security agents the erroneous belief that he was inside his official car.
The security agents waited for the governor to arrive so as to stop him from flying. It was too late.
In the convoy, a Land Cruiser Jeep emblazoned with the Coat of Arms and Marked “Adamawa State Governor”, occupied the space meant for Nyako but the former governor was not in any of the vehicles.
On stopping the convoy and searching, the security men, who had now been alerted to grab Nyako, only found some of his aides in his official car. They were livid.
One of Nyako’s aides told Saturday Vanguard that the security men had to quickly ferry the former naval officer out of the country because they feared for his life.
The source explained that there were unconfirmed reports that the man could be harmed after being removed from office.
“We had information that they would deal with Nyako in ways he did not anticipate because of the letter he wrote accusing the Federal Government of committing genocide in the North under the guise of fighting terrorism,” one of his aides said. “That is why it was imperative for the security officials, who knew the plot to harm him to assist him out of the country. Indeed, we can say that it is the same people, who had the duty to arrest him that assisted him to leave the country because of the fear that he could be harmed because of the gamut of security information at his disposal,” another source said.
A few days after Nyako had left Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said it was finding it difficult to track down the former governor for arrest over alleged misappropriation of funds.
A spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said the commission might be tempted to declare Nyako wanted if he continues to hide.
Fresh facts emerged last night as to why the Adamawa State Government is yet to notify the Independent National Electoral Commission on the removal of Governor Murtala Nyako through impeachment.
Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako
A competent source in Yola told Vanguard last night that strategists in the new government were contemplating taking steps to allow the Acting Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, to serve out the remaining tenure of Nyako rather than going for a by‑election to bring in another person.
Among the steps being considered by the pro‑Fintiri group is the adoption of the now famous “Doctrine of Necessity,” which they deem to have become imperative in the state following the removal of Nyako.
Under the plan, the protagonists are to approach the National Assembly to invoke Section 191 of the amended Constitution to pave the way for Fintiri to carry on till the end of Nyako’s tenure in May 2015 as was done for President Goodluck Jonathan by the lawmakers when President Umaru Yar’Adua died in 2010.
The arrangement, according to informed sources, was to enable the new governor to have a firm grip on the reins of power with a view to consolidating his political base and be able to contest the gubernatorial election next year.
Those, who hatched the plot, were said to have reasoned that allowing Fintiri to leave office just after 90 days would leave him worse off politically, given the risk he took in working to edge out Nyako and his deputy, Ngilari.
A source close to the Adamawa State Government House said, yesterday, that the House of Assembly did not seem to be in a hurry to write the INEC on the existence of vacancy in the government House following the removal of Nyako.
According to a source, AThe impression they give is that the House of Assembly is on vacation but they forget to say that the Clerk of the House is not on leave and can issue the letter and send to Abuja. It is clear to us that the new administration intends to hold on to power beyond the stipulated three months given the rush by the acting governor to appoint commissioners, special assistants and the SSG when it should be working hard to conduct the by‑election to bring in the governor.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has declared the ousted Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, wanted.
Governor Nyako
Investigations revealed that the leadership of the commission decided to declare Nyako wanted after he failed to honour the commission’s invitations after his removal from office.
It was further gathered that Nyako has evaded arrest as operatives detailed to arrest him after his removal from office by the House of Assembly has not sighted him since then.
The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, told one of our correspondents in a telephone interview in Abuja, on Tuesday that the commission took the decision to declare Nyako wanted because he had been elusive.
“Since Nyako, was removed, he has been elusive. So the commission has devised a strategy to declare him wanted.
“The commission is planning to declare him wanted,” Uwujaren said.
In response, Nyako said he was not surprised neither was he disturbed about the decision to hound him because he would not be the first person to be so hounded by men in power.
He expressed confidence that posterity will judge his administration kindly.
Nyako, who spoke through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Ahmad Sajoh, said this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja.
He said “They (the then government of the day) set up General Olusegun Obasanjo, accused him of a coup, jailed him unjustifiably and he later came out of prison to become President; they orchestrated the impeachment of Ayo Fayose, today they have returned him as governor elect.
“We have no fears. They harassed former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido; today he is the Emir of Kano. So, if what they are doing has Allah’s support, he would not elevate the people being humiliated. There is judgment of history, there is judgment of God. Today they are at the helm of affairs; it does not mean they will be at the helm of affairs tomorrow. They should also await Allah’s judgment.”
In a related development, Nyako’s deputy, Mr. Bala Ngilari was grilled for about three hours by operatives of the EFCC at the headquarters of the commission on Tuesday.
The Deputy Governor arrived the commission at 10:00 am and was allowed to go after 1.00pm.
A highly placed source at the commission said, “The former deputy governor was here. He responded to our invitation, he interacted with operatives for some hours. He came around 10am and left 1pm.”
It was further gathered that the leadership of the commission had taken a decision to defreeze one of several accounts operated by the Adamawa State Government to enable the state pay outstanding salaries owed civil servants.
It was learnt that the commission had not lifted the freeze order on the other accounts because they were still being investigated.
“One of the state government accounts, the salary accounts, has been de-frozen.
“The other ones have not been lifted because they are part of the investigation. This one was released so that the government could pay salaries; you know you cannot cripple the business of government,” the source said.
A former Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), on Tuesday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of waging a war against Nigeria by using the “common wealth to subvert the system.”
Buhari made the accusation in a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists in Kaduna.
The statement titled, “Pull back Nigeria from the brink,” is his first formal reaction to the removal of Murtala Nyako as Adamawa State governor and the threat of impeachment against Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State.
Nyako was one of the five Peoples Democratic Party governors who in November last year defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress.
Al-Makura is an APC governor in a state whose House of Assembly is dominated by PDP members.
The Presidency had since denied Jonathan’s involvement in the development.
But Buhari, who is one of the leaders of the APC, said in the statement that whether or not Jonathan was aware of the development, what mattered most was that it was happening under his administration.
He warned that the development which was aimed at turning the country “into a one-party state’’ did not augur well for democracy.
The former military ruler lamented that the recourse to impeachment as a punitive measure against “out-of-favour” governors was an indication that Nigeria was gradually drifting into anarchy.
He disclosed in the statement that he had in his private capacity discussed the current situation with the President but regretted that nothing had been done to check it.
Buhari explained that he did so because, as a former Nigerian leader, history would never be kind to him if he sat back and watched it to continue.
Describing himself as “ a close participant and witness to Nigeria’s political history since independence in 1960,” he said, ‘‘Our country has gone through several rough patches, but never before have I seen a Nigerian President declare war on his own country as we are seeing now.
“Never before have I seen a Nigerian President deploy federal institutions in the service of partisanship as we are witnessing now. Never before have I seen a Nigerian President utilise the common wealth to subvert the system and punish the opposition, all in the name of politics.
“Our nation had suffered serious consequences in the past for egregious acts that are not even close to what we are seeing now. It is time to pull the brakes.’’
He alleged that the impeachment or threats of impeachment of ‘‘out-of-favour’’ governors was to decapitate the opposition.
The general also said that impeachment or threats of impeachment had become an unwelcome distraction to the war against Boko Haram which has put the country on tenterhooks, “with innocent citizens being daily mowed down at the times and places of the group’s chosen and over 200 schoolgirls spending more than three months in precarious captivity.”
The statement read in part, ‘‘Whether or not President Goodluck Jonathan is behind the gale of impeachment or the utilisation of desperate tactics to suffocate the opposition and turn Nigeria into a one-party state, what cannot be denied is that they are happening under his watch, and he cannot pretend not to know, since that will be akin to hiding behind one finger.
‘‘In my capacity as a former Head of State, rather than a politician, I have spoken to President Jonathan in private over these issues, but indications are that the strategy has not yielded positive fruits.
“I cannot, just because I am an opposition politician, fail to do what is expected of me as a former Head of State to help rescue our nation in times of great trouble and palpable uncertainty. History will not be kind to me if I sit back while things turn bad, just so that no one will accuse me of partisanship.
“Yes, I am a politician. Yes, I am in the opposition. Yes, there is the tendency for my statement to be misconstrued as that of a politician rather than a statesman. But I owe it as a matter of duty and honour, and in the interest of our nation, to speak out on the dangerous trajectory that our nation is heading.
‘‘I can say, in all sincerity, that I have seen it all, as an ordinary citizen, a military officer, a state governor, a minister, a Head of State, a man who has occupied many other sensitive posts and a politician.”
He asked the President to tarry awhile and ponder the impact of recent events in the polity and the sustenance of its democracy.
Buhari said subverting the constitution through desperate moves or deploying the institutions of state against ‘‘an out-of-favour’’ state governor could only breed anarchy.
He warned, ‘‘The dangerous clouds are beginning to gather and the vultures are circling, and these have manifested in Nasarawa State where the ordinary people have defied guns and tanks to protest the plan to impeach Gov. Al-Makura in a repeat of the bitter medicine forced down the throat of Nyako.
‘‘The people’s protest in Nasarawa State is a sign of what to come if the federal authorities continue to target opposition state governors for impeachment. In the long run, the impeachment weapon will be blunted. Positions will become more hardened on both sides and Nigeria and Nigerians will become the victims of arrested governance and possible anarchy.”
He reminded Jonathan to also remember that no democracy could thrive or survive without a virile opposition.
Buhari added that a man in power must realise that he cannot always do things just because he could do them.
The former Head of state said, ‘‘I, along with many other patriotic Nigerians, fought for the unity and survival of this country. Hundreds of patriotic souls perished in the battle to keep Nigeria one. The blood of many of our compatriots helped to ensure the birth of the democracy we are practising today.
‘‘Let no one, whether the leader or the led, the high or the low, a member of the ruling or the opposition do anything to torpedo the system. Let no one, whether on the altar of personal ambition or pretension to higher patriotic tendencies, do anything that can detonate the keg of gunpowder on which the nation is sitting.
“It is time for all concerned to spare a thought for the ordinary citizens who have yet to see their hopes, dreams and aspirations come to reality, within the general context of nationhood.”
Jonathan however described the allegations by Buhari as unwarranted and totally uncharitable.
In a statement by his spokesman, Reuben Abati, the President said Buhari had sadly moved away from the patriotic and statesmanlike position he recently adopted on national security to “unbridled political partisanship.”
Jonathan said there could be no other explanation or justification for the “completely unwarranted and very uncharitable assault” on his conduct and integrity which Buhari’s statement represented.
He said it was unfortunate that instead of working to put their house in order and resolve the leadership crises and internal contradictions in the APC, the former Head of State and his allies had resorted to blaming the President for their woes.
While describing the fate that had befallen the APC as self-inflicted, Jonathan said he had never in his acts or utterances, recommended or promoted violence as a tool of political negotiation.
The statement read in part, “Gen. Buhari talks about anarchy. He needs to be reminded that President Jonathan from his humble beginnings as a Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State to date, has never in his acts, or utterances, recommended or promoted violence as a tool of political negotiation.
“The Constitution does not give the President any power to intervene in such proceedings and President Jonathan has never arrogated such powers to himself or sought to exert any nefarious and unconstitutional influence on state assemblies in Adamawa, Nasarawa or anywhere else in other to secure undue political advantage for his party as Gen. Buhari unjustifiably alleges.
“President Jonathan remains true to his declaration that no political ambition of his is worth the life of a single Nigerian. The President has definitely not declared war on his own country or deployed federal institutions in the service of partisan interests as Gen. Buhari falsely claims. Neither has he been using the common wealth to subvert the system and punish the opposition, as the former Head of State inexcusably asserts.
“Also, President Jonathan has never at any time ordered that any Nigerian should be kidnapped or that anyone should be crated and forcefully transported in violation of decent norms of governance.
“We therefore urge Gen. Buhari to tarry a while, ponder over his own antecedents and do a reality check as to whether he has the moral right to be so carelessly sanctimonious.
“It may well be time to pull the brakes, as Gen. Buhari says in his statement, but it is he and others who have resorted to idle ‘scapegoating’ and blaming President Jonathan for their self-inflected political troubles who need to stop their inexcusable partisanship and show greater regard for the truth, democracy, constitutionalism, the rule of law, peace, security and the well-being of the nation.”
The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has denied the speculation that the President, Goodluck Jonathan is behind the impeachment of Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako and the present situation of the governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Matura.
Governor Nyako
In a statement issued by the PDP National Auditor, Alhaji Adewole ADeyanju, he challenged the opposition party to make public, a proof that shows that the president is behind their impeachment. He said “I challenge the main opposition, All Progressives Congress, APC, and its leaders to come out with their facts that President Goodluck Jonathan was involved in the impeachment saga so as to convince Nigerians and the International Community that they were sure of what they are saying or shut up and stop feeding the members of the public with tissue of lies.
He reminded the opposition that the lawmakers followed due process, was served with impeachment notice, and also requested to defend themselves.
“The questions we should be asking ourselves are: Did the lawmakers follow the Constitution of the land? Did they follow due process? Were they served with impeachment notices for them to defend themselves? This is mere blasphemy and it will not work. Nyako was served with impeachment notice to appear before a seven-man panel to defend himself against all the allegations levelled against him and he refused to obey, and what did he do? He went ahead to declare two days holiday for reasons best known to him, while his deputy resigned when he knew that the game was up.
“In the case of Governor Al-Makura, the House wanted to serve him impeachment notice on several occasions but he refused service before the lawmakers went ahead and published it in the newspapers. They should leave the President and our party out of their predicament; we knew nothing about it, it is democracy in action.”
*His disappearance justifies charges against him — Presidency
By Soni Daniel, CLIFFORD NDUJIHE & Henry Umoru
ABUJA—There was a clear indication last night that former Adamawa State Governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako, who was sacked last week, had fled the country.
Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako
A competent source confirmed to Vanguard exclusively that the governor was not in Nigeria, having left the shores shortly after he was impeached by the state House of Assembly over alleged gross misconduct.
Although the source close to Nyako claimed that the man had travelled out of Nigeria to take a deserved rest after many years on the saddle, it was learnt that the retired naval chief fled the country in a bid to avoid being harassed by security agents, who have been looking for him.
The former governor, who has already filed an appeal against his removal from office, is also said to have fled the country because of security concerns about his life.
“It is true that Nyako had since left Nigeria to go and have a deserved rest but the main reason he left was because he was afraid for his life,” a close confidant of the former governor told Vanguard last night.
According to him, Nyako had to take the option of leaving the country when it became obvious to him that his enemies could even take his life while pretending to be working to remove him from office.
The source said: “Beyond the issue of trying to impeach the governor, he was really worried about people who could harm him because of their fear that he had so much information.
“So, I can tell you that as we speak, Nyako is not in Nigeria,” the source said.
Vanguard learnt at the weekend that the Federal Government was considering declaring Nyako wanted after its operatives had made fruitless search for the former governor both in Yola and Abuja.
It was gathered that security agents, who had been combing Yola and Abuja for the former governor, were frustrated over their inability to trace him.
According to a competent source in Yola, security aides of the former Chief of Naval Staff ferried him out of Yola to an undisclosed location same day he was sacked from office.
The plot to arrest Nyako was hatched a few hours after Adamawa lawmakers voted for his removal from office, having mobilised the required two third majority of the members to sack him.
Vanguard investigation revealed that the federal authorities were considering the option of declaring Nyako wanted as a last resort to compel him to come and face the charges that have been prepared against him by both the office of the AGF and the EFCC.
Presidency slams Nyako
In its immediate reaction, the presidency said with former governor Nyako running out of the country, following his impeachment by members of the House of Assembly last Tuesday, it was a clear indication thataccusations levelled against him were correct.
Speaking with Vanguard, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who noted that those who had alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan was responsible for the former governor’s predicament will now hide their heads in shame.
He said:” There must be a reason for his running away and this means that those who accused him of mismanagement of funds are correct, the fact speaks for itself and it is now clear that those accusing the president of having a hand in his impeachment are lying.”
On his part, National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Alhaji Lai Mohammed could not confirm the whereabouts of the sacked governor. Asked his take on reports that Nyako was on the run and may be declared wanted by the Federal Government for graft and treason charges, he said: “I don’t know where he is. I don’t know whether he is on the run or not.”
PDP mulls Muslim governor
Meanwhile, ahead of the release of time table by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct a bye- election following the sack of Nyako by the State House of Assembly, strong indications emerged, yesterday, that the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as well as the state stakeholders may have settled for a Muslim governor.
A source disclosed, yesterday, that the decision to have a Muslim governor was in reaction to insinuations by some people, who said that the state was no longer going for a Muslim governor after the exit of Nyako.
According to the source, after the emergence of the governorship candidate for the election, Nyako’s deputy, Bala James Ngilari, a Christian will return to his office as deputy as compensation for his loyalty to the party against the backdrop that when his boss dumped the PDP for the All Progressives Congress, APC, he refused to follow him.
The source said: “From all indications, we have viewed the situation and we are convinced that for the state to have peace, we must as a matter of urgency and expediency work out an arrangement for a Muslim governor if only to put the critics to shame that we have removed a Muslim governor.
“As it stands, the party is looking at the possibility of having a Muslim governor to succeed Nyako just as the deputy, Ngilari is being considered to return to his position for his loyalty to the party. We are trying to avoid any use of sentiment against our party.”
At the moment, aspirants to watch are a former governorship aspirant, Dr. Umar Ardo from the South; the Deputy Governor to Nyako, James Bala Ngilari from the North Senatorial District; Senator Abubakar Halilu Girie from the Central Senatorial District and Auwal Tukur, the son of the former PDP National Chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur also from the Central Senatorial District.
Others include Dr Ahmed Modibbo (central); former Deputy Governor to erstwhile governor Boni Haruna for eight years and past Chief of Staff to Nyako, Senator Bello Tukur (central); Ahmadu Umar Fintiri (former speaker and Acting Governor-(North); Brig. General Buba Marwa (North); Jerry Kundusi (central) and Engr. Markus Gundiri (central).(vanguard)
At last Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state has been booted out of office. Indeed this marks the end of an era. An era
Governor Nyako
characterized by a plethora of incessantly distracting political intrigues and showmanship that almost paralyzed the real business of governance in Adamawa state. Undoubtedly, there are Nigerians, especially those in the opposition political parties and their sympathizers, who understandably frown on this development in our polity and are thus inclined to believe that this is not only unhealthy for our growing democracy but equally exposes a part of the whole gamut of the changing versions of vicious political shenanigans being orchestrated by the Peoples Democratic Party and the President himself – Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan – which is aimed at undermining and debilitating the strength, the clout, the stronghold as well as the sphere of authorities of the states being controlled by the All Progressive Congress (APC). Similarly, there are others compatriots – consisting mainly of members of the Peoples Democratic Party and their apologists – whose perception of Governor Nyako’s political downfall borders on no other consideration than the belief that the latter has only reckoned with the reality of living out what of philosophers sometimes refer to as one’s “karmic accumulations”. Hence it is the belief of these folks that the fate which has just befallen Mr. Murtala Nyako is hardly severed from the handiwork of the transcend beings operating the phenomenon of poetic justice within the supernatural realm. Understandably, this and more are all issues that surround and speak volumes about the man now known as the immediate erstwhile Governor of Adamawa state.
Now, let us come to think of it. For the first set of Nigerians as mentioned above, there exists this seemingly indelible impression in their minds that no matter the seriousness or the credibility of the offences allegedly committed by Governor Murtala Nyako and on the grounds of which he has been booted out of office, nothing could be further from the truth vis-a-vis the time of the commission of these alleged offences. While some persons therefore query why members of the PDP who hitherto turned a blind eye to all the allegations levelled against Nyako while he was one of them and as such did not realise at the time that these charges constituted impeachable offences, others believe and argue that it was these same PDP folks who gave this hapless man (Mr. Murtala Nyako) the encouraging but misleading, bogus and elusive impression that the larger population of the people of Adamawa state and their state House of Assembly members were not only with him but in full support of his style of governance. Hence it smacks of little or no surprise that the politicking in the state got to a stage whereby even certain members of the state House of Assembly had to swim along with Admiral (Rtd) Murtala Nyako into the All Progressive Congress’ pool.
However, analysts believe that the most disturbing in all this game of gambling in Adamawa politics is the fact that the totality of the pre-defection actions and inactions of the Governor – some of which were even realised with the unalloyed/tacit support of members of the state House of Assembly – suddenly got compiled into a compendum of impeachable offences which invariably became a sort of send-off gift to Governor Murtala Nyako. This trend apparently explains why critics of this impeachment are seething with anger and consequently impelled to contend that Nyako’s only perceived sin for being “victimized” is not unconnected with his defection to the All Progressive Congress.
But could this assertion be true? Of course, supporters of Governor Nyako’s impeachment do not in any way subscribe to this line of thought or any such impression that tends to portray the impeached Governor as being punished or humiliated on account of his defection to the APC. According to the thinking here, in the first instance, the people’s mandate which confered authority on Nyako to govern the state was originally secured through platform created and offered to him by the Peoples Democratic Party and not by the All Progressive Congress. Therefore, the issue or argument about punishment or humiliation is viewed to be neither here nor there. More so, the question has been posed as to what else could justify the obvious need for the urgent removal of Governor Murtala Nyako from office than the “fact” of the diverse cases of maladministration established against him and which he implicitly aknowldged by his obdurate refusal to honour the invitation duly communicated to him in that regard by the Adamawa State House of Assembly. As the contention goes, if indeed Mr. Nyako was certain he is not guilty of the offences as charged and/or as established by the report of the panel set up by the acting chief Judge of the state to investigate him (and also by the contents of other relevant reports/documents as the case may be), it baffles and still boggles one’s mind why in his normal sense of reasoning he chose to waive his right to fair hearing as constitutionally guarranted and legitimately granted to him by the Adamawa State House of Assembly. Or, could it be the national or state leadership of the peoples Democratic Party that prevented Nyako from going to address those questions prepared and kept for his urgent attention in the State House of Assembly?
Arguably, one still wonders if it will be adjudged a “good politics” within our clime, or even else where, for either the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party or President Jonathan himself – whom Governor Murtala Nyako had continually and, in extreme cases, unpatriotically tongue-lashed, insulted, vilified and baselessly accused – to have seen a well-presented or providential opportunity to be astutely used in dealing with Mr.Nyako and only for him (Mr. President) or his party to fritter such rare opportunity away. And if one may ask, assuming the APC were to be the party in power at the Federal level or the party enjoying the privileged majority membership of the various State Houses of Assembly spread across the federation as the status qou favours the PDP, would the former in all snicerity cause less “harm” than what the latter is expediently doing to secure or, rather, to reclaim power in more states?
surely not a handful of Nigerians are bound to differ in our individual and/or group perceptions and responses to this seeming “plight” of the impeached Governor Nyako, his party (the APC) as well as the ongoing “travails” of his former colleague in Nasarawa state, yet the plain political truth as can be found in Robert Greene’s masterpiece – THE 48 LAWS OF POWER – is that those who seek ploitical power must learn to acknowledge the positive and negative operative effects of the laws of power. little wonder that Prof. B.C. Nwankwo in his book – Authority in Government – defines politics as “all actitivities geared towards acquisition or retention of power”. Incidentally, this putatively practical definition of politics cannot operate differently in the Nigerian polity. This is why Nigerian politicians should play more politics and do more good to our democracy. And here lies the beauty of democracy as evidenced in Governor Murtala Nyako’s impeachment.
The acting governor of Adamawa State, Alhaji Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri friday visited the national Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja, just days after Murtala Nyako was impeached as governor, with a declaration that the party’s stolen mandate in the state had been recovered.
PDP
Fintiri, who apparently came to give account of how he recovered the mandate, said his emergence as acting governor had restored the mandate.
“As a loyal and obedient party member, I came on a courtesy call to my party and the National Working Committee (NWC) as my first assignment after the battle to remove governor Nyako who had stolen the mandate of the PDP under which he was elected.
“I came here to return the mandate and I have handed it over to them. I promised that I will work together with the party, its leadership and the people of Adamawa to ensure that our party is restored to the people.”
Meanwhile, the national leadership of PDP said that the removal of Nyako and coming on board of the acting governor would help address the rot the state had experienced.
In his remarks, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh noted that Fintiri would restore dignity to the party as well as address the rot caused the party by Nyako. He promised that the leadership would give him the needed support and encouragement.
A group of youths opposed to the impeachment of the former Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, clashed with others who were jubilating over his ouster in Guyuk, the country home of the former Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Kobis Thimnu, in Adamawa State.
Governor Nyako
The clash, which left several people injured and property, especially vehicles worth thousands of Naira destroyed, occurred at the popular 2-4-7 plaza area of the town on Thursday.
Our correspondent gathered that trouble started when a group of youths, who were celebrating the governor’s removal from office, taunted those opposed to his removal through songs, dance and gestures considered offensive.
An eyewitness, Mr. Mlik Kolou, said, “Trouble started when those in favour of the impeachment were celebrating with songs of praises and those opposed to the impeachment tried to prevent them.”
“The situation was aggravated when soldiers deployed in the area to maintain law and order, descended on them. Shop owners, who operated at the plaza, hurriedly closed their shops for fear of their shops being vandalised by the hoodlums. who may capitalise on the situation and loot property.”
There were no reports of arrests as of the time of filing this report, while calm reportedly returned to the area.
The Adamawa State House of Assembly on Tuesday impeached the state governor after adopting the report of the seve-man panel set up by the Acting Chief Judge of the State, Justice Ambrose Mammadi.
Adamawa State has been without a substantive Chief Judge since the former helmsman of the state judiciary, Justice Bemare Bansi, retired from the bench three years ago.
Justice Bansi retired on July 5, 2011 and five acting CJs have been appointed in the state since then.
The reason, as our correspondent learnt on Wednesday, was due to the moves by the sacked governor of the state, Murtala Nyako, to ensure that only his preferred candidate was recommended by the National Judicial Council for appointment as the substantive CJ.
The constitution provides that before a governor can appoint a substantive Chief Judge, such person must be recommended to the governor by the NJC from a list of qualified candidates provided by the Judicial Service Commission of that state.
The former governor was on Tuesday removed by state House of Assembly.
The House of Assembly, in removing Nyako, said it acted on the recommendation of the seven-man panel set up by the current acting CJ of the state, Justice Ambrose Mammadi, to investigate the allegations of fund misappropriation levelled against him.
Mammadi is the fifth acting CJ since 2011.
His second three-month tenure started on July 6.
Incidentally, Nyako had recommended to the NJC to renew Justice Mammadi’s three-month tenure as the acting CJ before the judge set up the investigative panel which indicted him (the ex-governor).
It was learnt that the request by Nyako for the renewal of Justice Mammadi’s tenure after it ended on July 6, was part of the former governor’s continued defiance to the stance of the NJC that it would only recommend the most senior judge as the substantive CJ.
Mammadi began his first three month tenure as acting CJ on April 6 following the state government’s recommendation of his name to the NJC for appointment in acting capacity.
The government had recommended Mammadi after the NJC refused to confirm Justice Nathan Musa’s tenure in acting capacity for about the sixth time.
The appointment of acting CJs after Justice Bansi retired was said to have started with Justice Bathimawu Lawi.
After the death of Justice Lawi, Justice Banu was said to have been appointed as acting CJ and followed by Justice Umar Bobbo.
Sources said Nyako had vowed that Justice Bobbo, who was formerly his favourite ahead of Justice Banu, would never become the substantive CJ of the state as long as he remained the governor of the state.
A source said, “The governor had invited Justice Bobbo to his office shortly after becoming the acting CJ. The acting CJ, apparently aware that the invitation was to settle a dispute between him and a protocol officer in the state judiciary, had sent a message back to the governor that he (the governor) should be the one who should visit his (CJ’s) office if the governor needed him. Justice Bobbo made the same remark when the governor tried to invite him the second time.”
The source, who is very familiar with the crisis rocking the state judiciary since 2011, said it was at that point the former governor refused to renew Justice Bobbo’s tenure in acting capacity.
The government subsequently, with the approval of the NJC, recommended Justice Musa, and ensured he was the CJ in acting capacity for about a year, until the NJC rejected the former governor’s last bid to renew his tenure.
This was what necessitated the appointment of Justice Mammadi’s appointment as the acting CJ on April 6(punch)
ABUJA— Forty-eight hours after Governor Murtala Nyako was removed from office, details of how the game plan was hatched and implemented by the House of Assembly have emerged
Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako
A top source at the Assembly told Vanguard that the deputy governor, Bala Ngilari, who was billed to take over from Nyako, having not been found culpable of any offence, was reportedly tricked to resign as the only condition for the House leadership to impeach the governor and clear the way for him to take over.
The House, made up of mostly anti-Nyako elements, it was learnt, had convinced Ngilari that it was only after he had put in his resignation letter that they could commence the process of impeaching Nyako.
The pro impeachment lawmakers, who wanted the Speaker, Ahmadu Fintiri to take over from Nyako instead of Ngilari, made it clear to the deputy governor that it was better for him to resign and be installed as the governor than be impeached and sent packing.
Apparently not suspecting any foul play by the lawmakers, the then deputy governor rushed a three paragraph resignation letter and handed it over to the Speaker with the hope that he would be announced as a replacement for Nyako.
However, few minutes after he had handed over the letter and with mounting expectation that he would be named the next governor, the lawmakers shocked Ngilari with an announcement that he had voluntarily resigned to avoid being impeached.
They did not read to the portion of the report indicting him along with Nyako and why he had surreptitiously quit his position before the offences against him were made public.
A top government official said in Yola, yesterday, that Ngilari played into the hands of his opponents in the House of Assembly by accepting to direct the letter of his resignation to the House of Assembly when the law expected him to hand it over to the governor of the state.
The source said that it was when Ngilari realised that he had been deceived that he complained that he had been hoodwinked into resigning.
It was the complaint by Ngillari that compelled Nyako to distance himself from the claim that his deputy resigned and asked his aide to issue a counter statement on the matter.
Nyako, who spoke through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Mr. Ahmed Sajoh, said: “Our attention has been drawn to the purported resignation of the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State Mr. James Ngillari, which was supposedly read on the floor of the State House of Assembly.
“We wish to state categorically that Section 306 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as Amended, requires that the Deputy Governor resigns not to the House of Assembly but to the Governor.
“As at the time the supposed resignation was said to have been tendered in the House, Murtala H. Nyako was the Governor of Adamawa State. No such letter was written to him, none was received by him and none was approved by him.
“It should, therefore, be known that in the eyes of the law, the Deputy Governor has not resigned. Mr. James Ngillari is still the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State.
It was gathered that the Presidency was contemplating compensating Ngilari with a top appointment because of his loyalty to Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He is said to have lost out at the last minute for trying to strike a deal with Nyako to escape impeachment or work with the former governor’s son in case of impeachment.(vanguard)
The Senator representing Kwara Central, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has condemned Tuesday’s impeachment of Adamawa State Governor, Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako (retd) by the State House of Assembly.
Saraki, who is a two-time governor of Kwara State, told journalists in Abuja that Nyako’s sack was unfortunate. He also alleged that four other All Progressives Congress, APC, governors have been penciled down for similar treatment by the Federal Government.
He said, “It is very unfortunate and I think we are seven months to the end of the tenure. We all need to look at the bigger picture, look at the stability of our democracy.
“After Adamawa, I think Nasarawa state governor is being served with impeachment notice and three other states are going to be served”.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, added that “the bigger issue in this country now is the issue of security, and poverty. Some of the issues raised against the Adamawa State Governor can also apply anywhere and we need to be mature with our democracy”.
He warned that “The issue of impeachment should not be our priority at this stage and those of us that love this country will really need to talk to ourselves and be more concerned instead of dissipating our energy on issues that will divide us by overheating the polity and creating problems for ourselves.
“Those who are beating the drums now should know that it will come back to them”, Saraki said.
Events that shaped the political landscape in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, in the last two weeks, are apt for a blockbuster. Yes, as the dramatic persona, including top-raking politicians from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PD) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), soldiers, lawmakers and judicial workers took their epic performance to hotels, clubs, courtrooms and the streets of Yola.
The mission was clear and the goal unmistakable: Get the common foe, Murtala Hammanyero Nyako, out of the Government House and replace him with one of their own.
Nyako, who retired as an Admiral from the Nigerian Navy and had held fort as the Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff before going into full time commercial farming, can be said to be the architect of his own misfortune.
Baba Mai Mangoro, a coinage from the fact that he remains the highest and most successful mango farmer in Nigeria, must have unwittingly boxed himself into the political doldrums that he’s currently battling to extricate himself. Nyako is the one who plunged himself from his exalted comfort zone to the current nauseating dilemma that may suddenly sweep him off the political radar into oblivion.
Although the governor has fought many battles and still nurses a scar of the Nigerian civil war on his leg, he has displayed tactless optimism in the way he has played politics with his fellow compatriots, among them ravenous hawks, traitors posing as friends in the corridors of power, and above all, his tactless decision to jump ship from his former party (the PDP) to the APC last December.
Of all the atrocities that he is deemed to have committed, the single act of crossing from the PDP to the APC appears to have been his greatest ruination, opening the flanks for his opponents to attack him from all fronts. Even though those who are close to Nyako readily justify his exit from the PDP to the APC, given the irreconcilable differences between him and the former National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, others, who understand the situation better, believe his action was more of a shot on the foot.
They argue that it would have been a wise political undertaking for him to remain in the PDP and confront his adversaries with his army of foot soldiers both in the House of Assembly and the party than to jump ship and float alone as a leper.
According to those who really understand the politics of the state, it was immature for Nyako to have left the PDP for the APC leaving behind his deputy, James Bala Ngilari, and virtually all the state lawmakers in the PDP.
It is that political indiscretion by the governor that his avowed political enemies have carefully exploited to, not only cage Nyako but have also successfully exploit to get an upper hand in the move to send him packing from the Government House only a year to the end of the administration.
Beyond the miscalculation by Nyako, he is accused of not carrying along all the political actors in the state and not very enthusiastic in paying ‘gratis’ to those who matter in the state politics. One source painted a scenario that has come back to haunt Nyako as a plague. He is said to have rejected all entreaties to pay a once-off huge sum of money to members of the state House of Assembly or grant them self-accounting status as what obtains in many assemblies in the country so as to enjoy lasting peace with the members but he bluntly refused, arguing that the state did not have such amount to spend on a particular set of people.
Separating state from family
Nyako was actively presiding over a state, whose legislators were constantly ‘starved’ of all the freebies that their counterparts from other states take for granted. He might as well been incurring the wrath of his political opponents by not separating members of his family from the affairs of the state, thereby inadvertently playing into their hands.
The governor’s cup became full last week when the Adamawa lawmakers, who had perfected their plans to remove him from office through impeachment for sundry offences, some not worth bearing, raised a seven-man panel to probe his administration.
Apart from raising 20 strong allegations of misdeeds against Nyako, the House of Assembly members refused to budge when the court ruled that they should personally serve the governor the impeachment notice instead of doing so through substituted means, which the Supreme Court had decidedly cited as non-service in two clear cases.
The acting Chief Judge, Ambrose Mammadi, had told the lawmakers that they either complied with his order to serve the governor and his deputy as stipulated by law or be ready to face his wrath by the time they would want him to raise an investigative panel against the governor and his deputy. But it was a stunning volta-face, penultimate Friday, when the same judge inexplicably caused to be announced on public radio and television stations the names of seven persons to probe the governor without waiting for them to personally serve the governor.
Since the committee came into existence, many dramatic events have continued to be unfolded in its bid to get cracking with its assignment. First hurdle on its path was the inability to secure a safe venue to conduct its affairs. Under a tight security provided by armed soldiers, who also provided unsolicited protection to the acting CJ Mammadi until he had set up the committee, the men sat in the comfort arena of the J and J Hotel, Yola for only a day.
The owners raised the alarm on the second day that its fortunes were dwindling as a result of the unusual heavy presence of armed soldiers. The members were left with no option than to relocate. Leaving the hotel was easier than securing another facility for its meeting following the seeming resentment that the committee was getting from the people, as they began to suspect that the military was being deployed to stampede the House of Assembly and the CJ to evict Nyako from the Government House.
That might largely explain why it became difficult for the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, the Nigeria Union of Teachers and many other groups to open their offices for the probe panelists to conduct their affairs. One after the other, the groups rejected offers from the House of Assembly for them to accommodate the panelists and the resentment seemed to surge as the days went by.
Plea for mercy
Whether the investigating panel will be fair to Nyako or not, the mindset of his political opponents is that he should go down fast and forever. Nyako, looking forlorn like an orphan abandoned by its foster parents, is not, however, lying low. Already left in the cold by those who had once stood by him and even passed a vote of confidence on him when they were expected to ditch him, Nyako is beginning to rethink some of his past deeds and perhaps make amends, as the clock ticks for his ouster.
Last Monday, he was reported to have visited President Goodluck Jonathan with two former heads of state to plead for mercy but the meeting did not turn out well in his favour as the president reportedly gave the visitors an impossible condition for the governor to fulfill. Jonathan, who is still nursing the wounds inflicted on him by Nyako’s repugnant letter to northern governors accusing him of committing genocide in the region in the name of fighting terrorism, asked him to first withdraw the offensive correspondence and publicly apologise to him or be ready to go down.
Although feeling the heat of the ongoing impeachment process, the former naval chief, bluntly told Jonathan, he was ready to resign rather than recant his missive. But he is reported to have made some overtures to the members of the House of Assembly, who once had a good time with him and enjoyed his fatherly support in many ways before parting ways.
As part of the effort to find a truce and stand down the impeachment, the governor held series of meetings with some of the lawmakers in Abuja for most part of last week before returning to Yola on Thursday morning. Although he did not win the support of all the members to withdraw their support for his impeachment, he, however, got some ray of hope after the parley, which reviewed some of the issues that gave rise to the impeachment and what should be done to bring about peace.
Apparently out of the seeming light at the end of the tunnel, Nyako rushed to Yola and immediately inaugurated the chairmen and secretaries of 37 Development Area Authorities, DAA, which had been set up several years back but did not have heads to run them.
The non-inauguration of the officials, most of who were selected by lawmakers, formed part of the sore points between Nyako and the House of Assembly.
New calculations
The embattled governor may come out of the murky water with some scars that may make him wiser as a politician and begin to learn how to relate better with fellow compatriots. He may also have a leeway because those who packaged the impeachment with some hope of achieving higher rewards may not after all be so lucky to go home with any laurel.
The Speaker, Ahmadu Fintiri, who hails from the same Magadali Local Government Area with the Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari, might have discovered late in the day that the forces in Abuja would not allow the deputy governor to be swept away with Nyako and pave the way for him to take over as the governor.
If Nyako does not go down with Ngilari, it also means that Fintiri will have to step down as Speaker once Ngilari takes over as governor as two of them from same LGA cannot hold court as governor and speaker at the same time.
Similarly, it has become clear to the traditional rulers that easing out the Adamawa governor could spell doom for the entire state, which has been on the edge of ethno-religious tensions for some time. For that reason, the eight first class royal fathers met, on Tuesday, asked the aggrieved lawmakers to take it easy with Nyako. They did not ask them to go ahead with the impeachment or not.
As the gloom rises over Nyako’s head, the PDP issued a statement, commending the lawmakers for taking the step to impeach the governor and pave the way for one of its own to take over the reins of governance. Whether Nyako succeeds to ward off the raging storm against him or not, it will be written in history someday that he came, saw but did not successfully conquer because of the haste with which he jumped ship and treated serious political issues as if he was merely feeding his cows or tending his mango farm, which has fetched him both fortune and fame at home and abroad.
ABUJA—Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, yesterday, accused members of the state chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of acting the script prepared by Abuja for them against him and his deputy, James Ngilari
The governor and his deputy are facing impeachment threat from the House of Assembly, a decision which had been halted by the court, but received overwhelming backing by PDP stakeholders, who ended their meeting in Yola on Sunday.
The stakeholders apparently incurred Nyako’s wrath for declaring their support for the House to impeach him and his deputy.
Nyako, yesterday, described the PDP stakeholders as selfish and carried away by their lust to grab power at all cost.
The governor, who spoke through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Mr. Ahmed Sajoh, noted that the resolution reached by the PDP stakeholders was an indication that they were propelled by ulterior motives.
The governor said the plot to unseat him and his deputy was tele-guided by some unseen hands in Abuja, who did not wish the state well.
Nyako noted that with the decision of the stakeholders it was clear that PDP had displayed its usual penchant for forsaking its own.
The Speaker of Adamawa House of Assembly, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, on Wednesday, directed the Clerk of the House to serve Gov. Murtala Nyako and his Deputy, Mr Bala Ngilari, notice of impeachment “for gross misconduct”.
The development followed a motion on Constitutional Matter raised by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Laori Kwamoti (PDP-Numan).
He cited Section 188 of the constitution and presented a document containing allegations of gross misconduct against the governor, which he said was signed by 19 of the 25 members of the Assembly.
Shortly after the consideration and endorsement of Kwamoti’s document, Malam Usman Abdulkareem (PDP- Nasarawo/Binyeri) also said he had received allegation of gross misconduct against the deputy governor signed by eight members of the Assembly.
The Speaker, who perused through the two notices, said they had complied with the provision of the constitution, having met the one-third requirement for an impeachment of any of th two officers to commence.
The Speaker subsequently directed the Clerk of the house to serve separate notices to the affected personalities and all the 25 members of the state Assembly.
Speaking to newsmen on the development, the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Mr Adamu Kamale (PDP-Michika), said the governor and his deputy would be served the notices.
“Whether they reply or not, the house, would sit on the matter after two weeks, ” Kamale said.
Reacting to the development, Gov. Murtala Nyako, through his Director, Press and Public Affairs, Malam Ahmad Sajoh, described it as a “selfish move.
“Members of the House are planning something that will end up making them the sole beneficiaries, where the Speaker will be the acting governor and the deputy speaker becomes the deputy governor.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in 2008, Nyako was similarly served with a similar impeachment notice. (NAN)
The Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have resolved to impeach Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State,it was learnt yesterday.
Their decision is based on Nyako’s recent memo to Northern governors on the insecurity in that part of the country.
The Presidency and the PDP consider the memo a danger to national security.
They are also relying on the reports of security agencies into the allegations contained in Nyako’s letter.
The security agencies, including the Police, have faulted Nyako’s observations and rated the letter as “subversive and seditious.”
Barring a change of mind, the planned removal of Nyako is billed to commence within the next two weeks.
Some forces in the Presidency and PDP are said to be uncomfortable with the April 16 letter written by Nyako in which he accused the Federal Government of genocide in parts of the North under the guise of fighting Boko Haram insurgency.
The anti-Nyako forces ,sources said,claimed that the governor failed to substantiate the allegations at a session with the 36 governors in the country on April 24.
They had initially proposed to the idea of President Goodluck Jonathan appointing military administrators for Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, but this was shot down after legal advice indicated that it was unconstitutional.
The forces then opted for a plot to remove Nyako constitutionally from office using the Adamawa State House of Assembly.
The first stage of the plot is to take total control of the House of Assembly from Nyako.
That may have been achieved already after the PDP secured the support of a comfortable majority of the House on Wednesday with 25 members.
The next stage of the plot is said to be the commencement of impeachment proceedings against Nyako which will be based on a letter to the Assembly detailing security reports on Nyako’s memo to Northern governors.
A source familiar with the unfolding development said: “The lawmakers have already been told that security reports on alleged subversive activities of Nyako will be sent to them.
“On the basis of the reports, the legislators are expected to initiate impeachment proceedings in line with Sections 188 and 189 of the 1999 Constitution.
“The lawmakers are expected to receive security reports on Nyako any moment from now based on seditious breaches as applicable in Section 50-60 of the Criminal Code Act (LFN).”
It was learnt that once Nyako is removed, he would be made to face treasonable trial.
A member of the state House of Assembly, who does not want his name in print, said: “We have got a verbal notice from the Assembly leadership that a letter is coming from the Presidency.
“But as at the time we ended sitting on Thursday, we had not received any letter or memo or report on Nyako.
“If the alleged constitutional breaches are made available to us, we will look at the letter or memo on merit.”
Some stakeholders in Adamawa State have, however, warned members of the Assembly against the plot to remove Nyako.
The stakeholders reportedly told the lawmakers that attempt to remove Nyako is aimed at creating animosity between Muslims and Christians in the state.
It was learnt that Muslim and Fulani leaders in the state have vowed to resist any attempt to make the Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari (a Christian) to succeed Nyako.
One of the stakeholders said: “These forces in the Presidency should know that the fact that the PDP controls the majority in the state House of Assembly does not lead to automatic removal of Nyako.
“The Muslims and Fulani in the state will feel shortchanged if Nyako is removed as governor and a Christian is made to succeed him in this circumstance.
“The people of Adamawa State are not opposed to a Christian governor as was the the case with ex-Governor Boni Haruna, but it must be in a conducive atmosphere, not under treachery or duress.
“When Boni was in charge, Muslim and Christian leaders in the state resisted plot by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to remove him because of his loyalty to ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
“When the chips are down, the PDP may not get the required two thirds to sack Nyako.”
Another source said: “Adamawa may be thrown into a political turmoil, if moves are made by the presidency to remove Nyako. The governor may not be good and acceptable, but he fits into ethno-religious configuration of the state.
“There is a cold war between the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Umar Fintiri, and the Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari, which would make the removal of Nyako difficult.
“Fintiri, who had upstaged Ngilari politically many times, will certainly not make him to be either acting or substantive governor.”
It was gathered that ex-Vice President Atiku’s factor might frustrate any plans to remove Nyako because the battleline is drawn between the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A chieftain of the APC in Adamawa said: “We are aware of their plot, but they do not know that this state is different. If they have anything against Nyako, let them wait till the end of his tenure.”
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.
The Council meeting yesterday was full of tension as some Governors, particularly the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio, and Ebonyi State Governor, Martin Elechi, attacking Murtala Nyako, the governor of Adamawa State, over his alleged genocide against the North.
Despite the tension caused by the Memo of Governor Nyako, the security council deliberated on the 234 abucted girls.
Security council yesterday, ordered Service Chiefs to rescue the 234 girls abducted at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.
Responding to the order, the military chief promised the National Security Council that troops were closing in on insurgents as he described the operation as “highly tactical”
According to a source : “The Service Chiefs gave a detailed account of the operations being carried out to rescue the girls unhurt. They explained that they had to be highly tactical to avoid casualties.
“They repeatedly told us that the ‘troops are closing in on the insurgents’, but they did not want to divulge tactical information to the meeting.
“They also said the military was aware of the expectations of Nigerians on the girls and they promised not to let down the nation.”
It was gathered that the President, Goodluck Jonathan, appealed to the governors for cooperation and understanding in addressing the insecurity in the country.
The source said “The President pleaded with the governors to mobilise Nigerians to support the military to win the war against terror.”
On the status of the abducted girls, the source said that the meeting ended with the hope of that the girls will be rescued soon.
The source added that most of the deliberation was about Nyako’s memo which they said was in bad faith.
Governor Akpabio and Elechi chided Nyako’s memo and scolded him for what they referred to as “harsh tone”
“They shouted at one another and described Nyako as unpatriotic and and ethnic irredentist,” a source said.
Asked President Jonathan reply to the drama, the source said “You know he is a very restrained person, he was just watching
“The same way the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Sa’ad was all attentive and looking at the scenario.”
Despite the attack, the source said Nyako was not sorry, he defended his position by repeating the content of the letter to the surprise of those at the meeting.
He said “He neither apologised nor withdrew the content or any part of the toxic letter. But he got the message of those at the session that his conduct was unacceptable to the governors.
“No one supported Nyako at the meeting. But he stood his ground, leaving most of us astonished,” the source said.
The statement titled, “Pull back Nigeria from the brink,” is his first formal reaction to the removal of Murtala Nyako as Adamawa State governor and the threat of impeachment against Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State.
Justice Bansi retired on July 5, 2011 and five acting CJs have been appointed in the state since then.
Saraki, who is a two-time governor of Kwara State, told journalists in Abuja that Nyako’s sack was unfortunate. He also alleged that four other All Progressives Congress, APC, governors have been penciled down for similar treatment by the Federal Government.
The mission was clear and the goal unmistakable: Get the common foe, Murtala Hammanyero Nyako, out of the Government House and replace him with one of their own.
The governor and his deputy are facing impeachment threat from the House of Assembly, a decision which had been halted by the court, but received overwhelming backing by PDP stakeholders, who ended their meeting in Yola on Sunday.
The development followed a motion on Constitutional Matter raised by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Laori Kwamoti (PDP-Numan).
Their decision is based on Nyako’s recent memo to Northern governors on the insecurity in that part of the country.