The All Progressives Congress has condemned the renewed plan by the Nasarawa State House of Assembly to impeach the state governor, Alhaji Tanko Al-Makura.
Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura
Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, also said the fresh move to remove Al-Makura, was illegal. The lawyer said in a statement on Sunday that under the constitution, the House of Assembly lacked the power to raise the same allegations against the governor having been earlier exonerated of the same accusations by an impeachment panel.
The APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Sunday, said that the lawmakers were bent on violating the constitution in their desperation to remove the governor.
It noted that Al-Makura had been cleared of the charges against him by a duly constituted impeachment panel.
The party said it would amount to an illegality for the lawmakers to draft a vacation judge to set up another panel to probe the same 16 allegations, of which the governor had been absolved.
It said the constitution was clear that only the chief judge of the state could set up such a panel, upon receiving a request from the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
The APC, therefore, said that any attempt to draft a vacation judge to set up another panel would be against the constitution that gave the legislature the impeachment power in the first instance.
The party also said that Al-Makura could not be impeached on the basis of the same allegations.
It noted that if the lawmakers were to follow the constitution, they would have to find a new set of impeachable offences against the governor, adding that the legislators would have to notify the governor and forward their request to the chief judge, not to a vacation judge.
It said that the latest move by the legislators, who had relocated to Abuja from their base in Lafia, was being instigated by the Peoples Democratic Party.
“That this illegality is being contemplated under the watch of President Goodluck Jonathan is clear for all to see. In fact, it is in line with the culture of lawlessness and impunity for which the Jonathan Administration has now become infamous,” the APC stated.
The party said that the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, from Nasarawa State, had been goading the state legislature to disregard the constitution and remove the governor.
The APC said that the reason for the minister’s action was because Al-Makura was in the opposition party.
It said, ‘’It is also as clear as daylight that the kind of money being dangled at the lawmakers to impeach Governor Al-Makura at all costs could only have come from a deep purse or a war chest.
“With almost N30m and other perks being reportedly offered to each lawmaker just to take out an opposition governor, it is clear in whose interest and at whose behest such is being done.”
It called on those it described as “the puppeteers of the marooned Nasarawa legislators” to call the lawmakers to order.
“The lawmakers have tried and failed to remove Governor Al-Makura. Let them now return to Lafia and continue with their constitutional duties. They must give peace a chance,’’ APC said.
Falana, in his statement, also said, “The seven-member panel set up by the Chief Judge of Nasarawa State to investigate the allegations of impeachable offences leveled against Governor Tanko Al-Makura has concluded its assignment.
“Since the House of Assembly ignored the directive of the panel to substantiate the allegations against the governor panel dismissed them. Once the governor has been exonerated by the impeachment panel no further proceedings shall arise from the allegations by virtue of section 188(8) of the Constitution.
“However, completely dissatisfied with the clean bill of health given to Governor Al-Makura by the impeachment panel the House of Assembly of Nasarawa State, the House has decided to request the vacation judge to set up another panel to re-investigate the allegations which had been dismissed in favour of the governor.”
All is still not well between Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State and majority of the members of the state House of Assembly, despite escaping the first round of impeachment two weeks ago.
Tanko Al-Makura, Nasarawa State Governor
The aggrieved lawmakers, who are unhappy that the governor was cleared of all the allegations they levelled against him, hatched a fresh plot at the weekend at a secret location in Lafia, the state capital to push out the governor within a week.
Under the plot, which has now received the blessing of the PDP top hierarchy in the country, Al-Makura is to be probed by another panel to be hurriedly raised by a vacation judge in the state and made up mostly elements to be selected by the lawmakers.
To pave the way for the raising of another panel to tackle the governor, the lawmakers are planning an emergency session on Monday during which they would pass a vote of no confidence on the State Chief Judge, Justice Suleiman Dikko and suspend him from office.
While on suspension, the lawmakers would empower the vacation judge in the state to constitute a ‘friendly’ panel to take a fresh look at the allegations of gross misconduct and indict the governor within the first day of sitting.
Based on the report, the legislators are to remove the governor the following day and swear in his deputy, Dameshi Barau Luka.
A top source close to the lawmakers told Vanguard last night that they were set to reconvene early this week and pass a resolution directing the Vacation Judge in the state, Justice Rose Soji, to raise a fresh panel to probe allegations of gross misconduct against Al-Makura.
The source explained that the legislators were determined to take any step possible to ensure that the governor was removed within a week from the date of the setting up of the new panel.
The official explained that the lawmakers opted to take fresh steps to sack the governor since the Chief Judge had violated the law by putting pro-Al-Makura members in the panel that eventually cleared the governor.
The source said: “What the lawmakers are going to do this time around is to ensure that the governor is removed within days by the anti-Al-Makura panel they plan to raise on Monday or Tuesday this week before the CJ, Justice Suleiman Dikko, who they don’t trust returns from vacation next month.
A top government official privy to the plot said that the lawmakers are angry with the governor for various reasons chief among them being that he refused to dump the APC for PDP after being assisted to win the election petition case in 2012.
The governor is also said to be in the lawmakers’ bad books for reporting them to the EFCC that they pocketed billions of state funds under the guise of executing non-existing constituency projects.
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has said that it will go ahead and impeach Governor Tanko Al-Makura.
Tanko Al-Makura, Nasarawa State Governor
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Security, Baba Ibaku, who stated this in an interview with our correspondent in Lafia on Wednesday, said that there was no going back on the impeachment move against the governor.
He said the panel set up by the Chief Judge, Justice Umaru Dikko, to investigate the 16 counts against the governor, breached Section 188 Subsection (5) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
He, therefore, described the sitting of the panel as illegal.
Ibaku said that the lawmakers did not know whether there was any sitting of the panel on Tuesday or not.
The lawmaker stated, “As far as we are concerned, there is no seven-man panel that is investigating Governor Al-Makura, because we had earlier asked the state chief judge to disband the panel.
“We sent our legal team to appear before the panel yesterday (Tuesday) and we instructed them to simply tell the Chairman of the panel, Yusuf Usman, that we (the lawmakers) only appeared through our legal team to register our protest against the composition of the panel because the members of the panel are political office holders,” he stated.
He said, “We will go-ahead with our moves to impeach Governor Al-Makura and nothing will stop us to step down on our plans, no matter what it entails. We are going to file a case before the law court as soon as we finish our deliberation,”
“We will always sit in any part of the state to pass another resolution,”
On its part, the governor lauded the decision of the judicial panel.
Al-Makura, who gave the commendation in an interview with journalists in Lafia, described the outcome of the panel as a victory for democracy.
The governor said, “My victory is for the rule of law. I am sure the people of goodwill and the people of Nasarawa State, even without coming to the tribunal, know who the governor is and what he could do and what he can or not do. My vindication is for the good people of Nasarawa State.”
While dedicating the victory to the people of the state, he urged them to be on the right part of the law. He also commended the role played by the team of his legal experts.
But the Legal Adviser to the outlawed Ombatse Militia Group, Zachariah Allumaga, condemned the seven-man panel for dismissing the allegations against the governor.
According to him, Al-Makura has been using the instruments of state powers to the disservice of the people.
He said, “The governor has always, since his assumption of office, been the judge in his own case,” adding that the people of the state would oppose such moves by the governor.
Allumaga, who spoke in an interview with The PUNCH in Lafia, argued further that the state lawmakers were on course. However, he said they should go ahead with their actions in the spirit of the constitution.
He called on members of the state House of Assembly not to derail, adding that what happened at the panel was a child’s play.
The legal adviser of the Ombatse cult group faulted the state chief judge, whom he said had made himself to be used by a drowning governor.
Allumaga, who is also a former Magistrate in the state, said that Dikko has done a great havoc to Section 188 of the Constitution. He urged the state House of Assembly and the Nigerian Judicial Council to sanction him.
According to him, the CJ constituted a panel that had the governor’s cronies, card-carrying party members and government appointees.
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has sent a petition against Governor Tanko Al-Makura to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura
The Chairman of the assembly’s Committee on Information and Security, Mr. Baba Ibaku, told one of our correspondents on Sunday, that Al-Makura would face the EFCC after his impeachment.
“We have petitioned the EFCC and after our impeachment process, the governor will know how to defend himself,” he said.
Ibaku was reacting to an allegation by the All Progressives Congress’ Chairman in the state, Mr. Philip Shekwo, that the assembly members pocketed N7.78bn constituency allowance given to them by the state government in three years.”
He said, “The APC chairman does not have the moral right to ask us what we received either monthly or quarterly. It is only the people that voted us into office that have the mandate to do so.
“He (Shekwo) is not a member of our party and we are not members of his party. They (APC) are the people to tell us how much Al-Makura has collected in the last three years from the federation account and how much he has spent on projects.”
The lawmaker, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said the governor would explain to the EFCC how he spent the state’s allocations.
But he neither said when the petition was written nor gave detailed information on its content.
On the alleged misuse of constituency allowances given to the lawmakers, he said they were ready to defend themselves if invited by the EFCC.
When our correspondent contacted the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity , Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, he said that the lawmakers’ petition had not been brought to his attention.
“Even if they have written a petition to the commission, I am not yet aware of it,” he added.
Also, Al-Makura’s Director of Press, Iliyasu Yakubu, said he was not mandated to speak on the petition by the assembly members.
Meanwhile, the national leadership of the PDP has advised Al-Makura to face his problems, instead of engaging in what it called APC’s “out-worn antics of blaming the Presidency and the PDP for their self-inflicted woes.”
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Sunday, said the governor should look inward and find answers to his challenges as the chief executive of his state.
It said the idea of promoting trite excuses of external influence , sponsoring protests as well as threatening and unleashing thugs on the state legislators would not solve his problem.
Restating that it has no hands in the state’s political development, the PDP said the impeachment move against Al-Makura remained a local issue in the state.
He added that the provisions of the 1999 Constitution were very clear on such processes.
The PDP said, “Nigerians may recall that at the wake of the impeachment move in Narasawa State that we came out clearly to restate our non-involvement in the saga and went ahead to charge our lawmakers across the country to ensure that their actions were strictly guided by the provisions of the law.
“We have also challenged the governor and the APC to provide evidence of the alleged involvement of the Presidency or the PDP in the crisis.
“However, we are shocked that instead of focusing on finding answers to his problems which must be connected with the bad governance that has characterised APC-led administrations in the country, the Nasarawa State governor declared war on the lawmakers, while unleashing APC thugs on them and stopping them from carrying out their constitutional duties.”
The party said it was astonished with the “series of unfounded allegations, insults, blackmails and threats sponsored against the Presidency and the PDP.” which are aimed at subverting constitutional provisions.
The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has advised Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State to face his problems with his people instead of engaging in what it called All Progressives Congress “out-worn antics of blaming the Presidency and the PDP for their self-inflicted woes”.
Tanko Al-Makura, Nasarawa State Governor
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, who stated this in a statement on Sunday said the governor should look inwards and find answers to his challenges as the chief executive of his state.
He said the idea of of promoting trite excuses of external influences, sponsoring of protests, threatening and unleashing thugs against the state legislators and levelling against the PDP would not solve the problem.
Restating that the PDP has no hands in the political development in Nasarawa State, Metuh said the impeachment move against Al-Makura remained a local issue in the state adding that the provisions of the laws and constitution of the nation were very clear on such processes.
He said, “Nigerians may recall that at the wake of the impeachment move in Narasawa state, we came out clearly to restate our non-involvement in the saga and went ahead to charge our lawmakers across the country to ensure that their actions are strictly guided by the provisions of the law.
“We have also severally challenged the governor and the APC to provide evidence of the alleged involvement of the Presidency or the PDP in the crisis.
“However, we are shocked that instead of focusing on finding answers for his problems which must be connected with the bad governance that has characterized APC-led administrations in the country, the Nasarawa state governor has declared war on the lawmakers, while unleashing APC thugs to attack them and stop them from carrying out their
constitutional duties.”
Metuh said his party was astonished with what he called “series of unfounded allegations, insults, blackmails and threats sponsored against the Presidency and the PDP,” which he said were aimed at subverting constitutional provisions, undermine democratic institutions and ultimately establish a reign of impunity in the state.
“Our advice to the APC and Nasarawa state governor is that in as much as neither the PDP nor the Presidency is involved in the impeachment saga, resorting to baseless allegations, cheap blackmails, threats and violence against the state legislature, the PDP and the Presidency will not help them,” he added.
Metuh said that Al-Makura and the APC must understand that the issue at stake was not a matter of political sentiments and threats, and that neither was it a matter of sponsoring protests and media propaganda, but that of democracy, accountability and the provisions of the laws and the constitution.
The rift between the Nasarawa State House of Assembly and the state Chief Judge, Justice Umaru Dikko, over the constitution of a panel to probe Governor Umaru Al-Makura has worsened. The lawmakers have insisted that the panel remains ‘dissolved.’
Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura
The Assembly on Friday, again, dismissed the seven-man panel set up by Justice Dikko, insisting that the panel does not exist, as far as it is concerned.
The lawmakers had asked the Chief Judge to constitute a panel to investigate allegations of wrongdoing against Al-Makura, as part of his impeachment process.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Security, Mr. Baba Ibaku, had on Wednesday said the lawmakers resolved to demand the dissolution of the panel during their emergency sitting at the House of Assembly complex last Monday.
The spokesperson for the lawmakers argued that the fact that the panel members held political positions in the state was against the provision of Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Despite the lawmakers’ directive, the panel began its sitting on Thursday.
While speaking to SUNDAY PUNCH in an interview again on Friday, Ibaku insisted that the House had dissolved the panel. He said the lawmakers were still waiting for the CJ to re-constitute the investigative panel.
He said, “As far as the lawmakers are concerned, there is nothing like seven-man panel set up by the state Chief Judge, Justice Dikko, and we have since dissolved them, waiting for the CJ to re-constitute a new panel.”
In a related development, the outlawed Ombatse cult and Eggon youths, who have backed the move to impeach the governor, were said to be poised for a showdown over the burning of a lawmaker, Muhammad Muluku’s car by youths suspected to be APC members.
Ibaku, however, said he and other members of the Assembly had not been associating with the groups. He said the lawmakers did not employ anybody to work for them.
He stated that if the groups were threatening, they had their reasons.
Ibaku, who could not confirm when the lawmakers would reconvene, stated that the lawmakers would sit when there was the need for them to do so.
The lawmaker noted that members of the Assembly would only sit at the complex when they discovered that the state was peaceful and conducive to their sitting. He said it would be difficult for the lawmakers to sit in the complex with youths burning tyres along the roads.
“We decided to sit at the Karu Local Government Area of the state recently because there was no peace in the state. We were told that some youths suspected to be APC loyalists set one of our members’ car ablaze at the Akuruba area of the state,” Ibaku said.
The Assembly, which began the impeachment process against Al-Makura a few weeks ago, could not reach him (the governor) to serve him the impeachment notice. It later published the impeachment notice in some national newspapers.
In his reaction on Friday, the Director of Press to Al-Makura, Ali Yakubu, dismissed threats by the lawmakers as their opinion.
He stated that the issue (of panel dissolution) was a constitutional matter, adding that Section 188 empowered the Chief Judge to constitute the seven-man panel to investigate the governor.
“It is a constitutional matter which empowers the CJ to constitute the seven-man panel to investigate the governor,” Yakubu stated.
He further said the lawmakers had done their part and that Dikko had also done his part.
Yakubu urged the lawmakers to leave the Chief Judge to perform his function as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution.
Meanwhile, constitutional experts have said the legislature lacks the power to interfere with the constitution and activities of an investigative panel in an impeachment process.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, told SUNDAY PUNCH that a House of Assembly could not appoint members of an impeachment panel and that only the Chief Judge reserved the right to do so.
He said, “With regard to the impeachment of a governor, you cannot act outside of the provisions of the Constitution. The power to appoint the panel is given to the Chief Judge. Each department has its own role.
“The role of the House of Assembly is the first stage of passing its resolution, mandating the Chief Judge to appoint panellists. And after the appointment, it is for the panel to look at the allegations and then the outcome of those allegations will go back to the House of Assembly. You can’t transgress your own limits.”
Oyetibo noted that the lawmakers had to wait for the panel to conclude its investigations, except there is “cogent and compelling evidence that they (members of the panel) are members of political parties.”
Similarly, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, stated that the Nasarawa State House of Assembly had no right to interfere with the panel. He also said the Chief Judge alone had the powers with regard to the composition of an impeachment panel.
“The House of Assembly does not have powers to dissolve the panel. They have no role to play in the composition. There are checks and balances. Their own is to sign the impeachment notice and for the Chief Judge to constitute the panel.
“Whether they are happy or unhappy about it (the composition), is totally irrelevant. It is the chief judge’s panel,” Osipitan stated.
Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has faulted his Nasarawa State counterpart, Umaru Muktar Almakura’s type of politics, saying it was responsible for his predicament.
Tanko Al-Makura, Nasarawa State Governor
According to Kwankwaso, Almakura, currently facing impeachment launched by Nasarawa lawmakers, is too soft to be governor under President Goodluck Jonathan.
Kwankwaso told journalists in his office, yesterday, that “you cannot be a gentleman and hope to survive as governor under the present dispensation”.
He added, “A gentleman cannot be a good governor, you need to have so many faces because the game is rough and can’t accommodate a gentleman”.
The Kano governor said Almakura rebuffed intervention and expertise to assist him navigate troubled waters, adding: “He is too soft for my liking.
“On our volition, we suggested to him to allow us mobilise our foot soldiers. He refused. We also appealed to him to allow us come in physically. He refused; always distancing himself from such expertise that would assist him”.
The APC presidential hopeful lamented how Adamawa State fell like a pack of cards under impeached Governor Nyako, saying the gale of impeachment across APC controlled states was being instigated by the Presidency.
Kwankwaso opined that “the whole madness is a wicked calculations ahead of 2015”, pointing out: “It is not going to assist the PDP Federal Government retain power. We have had enough of this impunity, ruthlessness and we are closing ranks to chase them out of power by 2015; it would be too late for them to hoodwink anyone again”.
The Kano governor declared that President Jonathan was qualified for impeachment.
There are indications that the Peoples Democratic Party has begun moves to lobby the Nasarawa State Chief Judge, Justice Sulaiman Dikko, with a view to influencing and persuading him to disband the seven-man impeachment panel set up to probe Governor Tanko Al-Makura for alleged gross misconduct and abuse of office.
Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura
A source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Saturday PUNCH that the PDP during the week dispatched a two-man lobby team to influence the Chief Judge to set up a new panel to probe the governor with promises that he would be elevated to the Appeal Court among other juicy offers.
But the source said the Chief Judge rejected the offer, quoting him as saying that his actions were in tandem with the provisions of the nation’s constitution.
The source said, “Justice Suleiman Dikko has told the PDP’s emissary that he could not set up another panel because he instituted the initial panel according to the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution as stipulated in Section 188.
“The CJ said that if there was any help he could render to anybody or group in Nasarawa State, he had done it by adhering to the provisions of the constitution via setting up a seven-man panel of Nasarawa State indigenes of impeccable character who are also non-partisan.”
This came on the heels of the call by the Nasarawa State House of Assembly on Dikko to dissolve the panel on the grounds that it was made of loyalists of the All Progressives Congress of which Al-Makura is the leader in the state.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Security, Baba Ibaku, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Lafia, during the week, had explained that the lawmakers resolved to demand for the dissolution of the panel during their emergency sitting at the Assembly complex at 10am on Monday.
He claimed that the fact that the panel members held political positions in the state was against the provision of Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The lawmaker said, “We had an emergency sitting to deliberate on the seven-man panel that was set up by the Chief Judge on Friday last week. We asked him to dissolve the seven-man panel because the members of the panel are APC members that hold various political positions.”
But with Dikko insisting on maintaining the seven-man panel, a serious showdown is expected between the CJ and the anti-Al-Makura lawmakers.
Saturday PUNCH also learnt that APC chieftains, including Al-Makura met in Abuja on Thursday to further strategise on how to ensure that the impeachment plot does not consume the embattled governor like it did to the former Adamawa Governor Murtala Nyako.
One of the APC chieftains, who asked not to be named, in a text message to Saturday PUNCH, said, “I am in a meeting with Governor Tanko Al-Makura; trying to save his job!”
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly had levelled 16 charges bordering on official misconduct against Al-Makura. The lawmakers had ordered that the governor should be served an impeachment notice signed by 20 of its 24 members.
One of the charges raised against Al-Makura was the missing Local Government Joint Account Funds between June 2011 and April 2012 and from January to July 2013.
The lawmakers also alleged that the governor misappropriated and misapplied funds in the joint account and Local Government Sure-P Fund. He was also accused of transferring local government SURE-P fund to a fixed deposit account.
According to the lawmakers, the offences violated Section 162 (7 and 8) of the 1999 Constitution.
The APC, however, slammed the PDP members of the Nasarawa House of Assembly for demanding the dissolution of the panel set up by the state CJ to probe the impeachment charges against Al-Makura, describing the call as unreasonable and unconstitutional.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the demand by the lawmakers showed they either had a very poor understanding of the Constitution or they were blinded by their desperation to impeach Al-Makura.
He said, “Either way, they have boxed themselves into a tight corner. Holding an illegal sitting in Abuja with a fake mace is as ridiculous as the demand by the lawmakers for the dissolution of the panel set up by the Chief Judge.
“Section 188 (5) of the Constitution is clear: ‘Within seven days of the passing of a motion under the foregoing provisions of this section, the Chief Judge of the state shall, at the request of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not being members of any public service, legislative house or political party, to investigate the allegation as provided in this section’.
“It is important to point out to the desperate lawmakers that the key words in that section is that the Chief Judge must appoint persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity. At this juncture, it is neither the opinion of the Speaker nor that of the legislators that counts, it is the opinion of the Chief Judge.
‘’Therefore, neither the Speaker, the lawmakers nor the Chief Judge can dissolve the panel at this stage, and none of them can stop the impeachment process. Once the Chief Judge has appointed the panel under section 188 (5), he becomes ‘functus officio’, that is, he has no further powers on the matter. This is the situation of things at present and the lawmakers can only await the report of the panel.’’
But the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party had denied its involvement in the plan by the lawmakers to impeach the governor.
It insisted that the party had never interfered in the impeachment plot.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, who stated this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, said it would be wrong to link the party at the national level with the crisis rocking the state.
He said, “The party at the national level is oblivious of what is happening in Nasarawa State. What is happening in Nasarawa State is not known to us and we are not part of it.
“It is therefore wrong to say we are inducing anyone to impeach the governor. We have no hand in it. However, we want to tell our members to thread with caution.
“The party at the national level remains focused in projecting our party and making it the joy of all Nigerians.”
Metuh asked the PDP supporters to remain calm and not to be distracted by any “propaganda that maybe thrown at them by the opposition.”
A lawyer and social commentator, Jiti Ogunye, said the House of Assembly could sue the Chief Judge of Nassarawa State if it was not satisfied with his composition of the panel set up to probe the governor.
Ogunye said, “The impeachment plot in Nassarawa State has become very interesting and everyone is aware at this point that the Chief Judge has exercised his power under Section 180 of the Constitution to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations bothering on gross misconduct levelled against the governor.
“We are also aware that the House of Assembly has kicked against the composition of the panel, alleging that the panel comprises of people who could be biased. Now what we think should be done at this point is that the CJ should, in the absence of cogent and verifiable reasons, stand his ground and should ensure that the panel he constituted do their job.
“Now if the House of Assembly has a disagreement with the decision of the CJ, they cannot resolve that by mounting up pressure on the CJ by virtue of being a PDP-dominated House of Assembly.
Ogunye said if it were true that the PDP was enticing the CJ with favours, it was an unacceptable action in a democratic era.
He added, “This report of the PDP inducing, if it is true, is not acceptable, it is condemnable and we urge the CJ of the state to stand firm. Before exercising his power, he must have weighed the implication. If he is now pressurised to reconstitute the panel, he would not only be destroying his own integrity, but the integrity of the judiciary.
Another lawyer and political commentator, Fred Agbaje, said the interference of the PDP in the decision of the Chief Judge would lead to a corrupt judicial system.
Agbaje said, “The implication of this, if it is true, is that it would amount to an alteration of justice. In other words, it would lead to a frustration of justice by the manipulative powers that be, and that would lead to a fundamental deviation from the set objective provided by Section 33 of the 1999 constitution which demands fair hearing.
“Justice must be rooted in confidence and that confidence is destroyed when the ordinary man on the street feels that those who are being called upon to carry out justice have been morally and financially polluted.
“If it is true, it is a bad omen for our judicial system, which has come a long way. It is one of the best in Africa, and no one should be allowed to corrupt it.”
The impeachment bug that lately caught the polity is having to contend with conspiracies in Nasarawa and a moral dilemma in Enugu.
The plot to remove Governor Tank Al-Makura
was from the onset laced in conspiracy. That scheme fanned by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP dominated House of Assembly to sack the embattled governor elected on the platform of the All progressives, APC has, now been entrapped in a seemingly larger conspiracy.
Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura
The impeachment process against the governor had in the past two weeks paralysed activities in the state following the abandonment of governance by the governor and his antagonists in the House of Assembly. Most of them it was learnt, had relocated to Abuja, from where many assumed the plot was being teleguided from.
After some lull, the process was enlivened last Friday when the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Suleiman Dikko inaugurated a seven man panel to investigate the allegations leveled against Governor Almakura.
The seven man panel comprises of Yusuf Usman as chairman with Mohammed Keana, Joel Galadima, Abdul Usman, Samuel Chaku, Mohammed Usman, and Daniel Chaga as members.
Given the complex ethno-religious tension in the state it was not long before different interest groups found reasons to doubt the suitability of the panelists.
Indeed by last Wednesday the lawmakers at the forefront for the removal of the governor raised their objection to the panel.
The members of the House of Assembly who had fled the state capital on account of antagonism from some members of the public they claimed to be hired, at a sitting in Karu, about 150 kilometers from Lafia, the state capital, rejected the panel saying that the members were biased towards the governor.
The 19 House members who sat at the session and all of who belong to the PDP, claimed to have acted on the basis of a petition from a group, Nasarawa Concerned Citizens which accused Justice Dikko of bias in the constitution of the panel.
In the view of the group, Justice Dikko had constituted a panel that was bound to acquit the governor and which would constitutionally bring all attempts to remove the governor to an end.
Vexed by the claims of the group, the House after its deliberation urged the chief justice to reconstitute the panel, bringing to an issue the capacity of the House to question the chief judge the way and manner he should do his job.
The issue was outstanding as at press time. Meanwhile, there are allegations that impeachment process was also being threatened by the competing interests of the members of the PDP in the post Almakura years, especially as it pertains to the 2015 election.
Two of the formidable politicians from the state in the PDP, Senator Solomon Ewuga and information minister, Labaran Maku are believed to be eyeing the 2015 gubernatorial contest. It was alleged that some associates of the two men are afraid that the impeachment of the governor would bring the deputy governor, Dameshi Luka who defected from the APC to the PDP as a major force to reckon with in the 2015 election.
Meanwhile, in Enugu State, the impeachment plot against the deputy governor of the state, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi dogged the kitchen impeachment was also on Wednesday stirred up after Mr. Onyebuchi responded to the issues raised against him.
The Enugu State House of Assembly which had accused the deputy governor of disobeying Governor Sullivan Chime in refusing to represent him at the ground breaking ceremony for the Second Niger Bridge and of keeping a poultry in his official residence.
On the issue of failing to represent the governor at the Second Niger Bridge groundbreaking, Mr. Onyebuchi in his response submitted that he was there as he supplied video evidence of his presence.
On the issue of keeping a poultry, the deputy governor replied that the poultry was part of the things he met in his official residence as he submitted that all deputy governors before him had maintained the poultry whose equipment were installed by the first premier of Eastern Nigeria.
“On assumption of office in May 2007, there was an existing official residence for the Deputy Governor of Enugu State. On inspection of the premises I observed that it had on its grounds an area designated and fenced as an Agricultural Unit, with facilities for amongst other things, a poultry farm. I commenced operation of a poultry on the premises in 2008 with technical support from ENADEP and the Commercial Agricultural Programme of the State Ministry of Agriculture. The said poultry farm was declared in my Asset Declaration and inspected by the Code of Conduct Bureau.”
To butt, he said Governor Chime also had even a bigger poultry within the Government House.
Given the general impression that the issues against the deputy governor were essentially political and against the background of insinuations that the forces against the deputy governor were determined to remove him before this weekend, eyes are on the Enugu House of Assembly to see to what extent it would go.
In a bid to sway the decision of the 7-man probe panel recently constituted by the Chief Judge of Nasarawa state, Justice Umaru Dikko, to investigate allegations of gross misconduct levelled against Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is allegedly set to bribe four of the members of the panel with N100m each to turn the decision of the panel in its favour.
Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura
The plot is said to be hatched at the national secretariat of the PDP in Abuja, with the aim of garnering more of the panel members on its side.
This desperate move is said to have been prompted by fears that the panelists could discharge their duty with open mind which could give rise to a clean bill for Al-makura.
Poised not to leave anything to chance, the PDP is making this last move to implicate Al-makura by all means to pave way for his impeachment.
Commenting on the allegation however, Senior Special Adviser to Governor Al-makura on Publicity, Abdulhamid Kwarra, a former Majority Leader in the state Assembly, denied knowledge of the plan.
He told our reporter on phone that it would however not be a surprise if the PDP should embark on such moves because of its level of desperation to return to power again after wasting 12 years in the saddle.
“It is not surprising that they are embarking on such moves. The PDP is so desperate to return to power by all means having wasted 12 years misruling the state” Kwarra stated.
The SSA noted that having frittered away the opportunity given to the PDP when it held sway in the state for 12 years, the people of the state have since 2011 decided to usher in a development-centred government.
Kwarra explained further that even if members of the PDP chose to go that far, he is of the view that members of the 7-man panel are persons of proven integrity who would carry out the task ahead with every sense of responsibility and in order to ensure that peace reigns in the state.
“The members of the panel are God fearing and will carry out their duty based on the strict adherence to the guiding principles. They are trustworthy and capable of carrying out their responsibility without fear or favour” he said.
Meanwhile, investigations by our reporter revealed that a brother to one of the lawmakers, Mohammed Agah Muluku (PDP, Nasarawa-Eggon West), was yesterday waylaid by irate youths in Lafia, resulting in the burning down of his car.
Supporters of the governor had earlier mobilized ahead of a purported move by the lawmakers to sneak in and reconvene at the Assembly complex allegedly to pass a resolution seeking to freeze the accounts of the state government.
SSA to the governor on Publicity equally denied the allegation but however said the lawmakers were free to conduct their business at the Assembly as there is adequate security at the complex to guarantee their safety.
“Their conscience must be pricking them for the lawmakers to become fearful of conducting their affairs at the Assembly. If they know they are doing the right thing, why are they afraid of openly appearing at the Assembly?” Kwarra queried.
Several attempts made to get reaction from the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, proved abortive as several calls and text messages sent to him could not go through.
But a member of the party’s leadership, who reacted on condition of anonymity because he had no official permission to do so, said the insinuation that the party has perfected plans to bribe the Nasarawa lawmakers was baseless and unfounded.
According to him “The party had said severally that it was not involved in whatever is going on in Nasarawa state. It is entirely an internal affairs of the legislature in that state. We have said it over and over that the PDP believes in separation of powers and would not, in whatever way, interfere in the internal affairs of the states.
“It is even ludicrous for anyone to say that a meeting held at the PDP National Headquarters to discuss how to bribe panel members. With whom was the meeting held?”he queried. “I think the APC should face their troubles and leave us alone.”
He continued “That was how the enemies of democracy were dragging the names of the party and that of President Goodluck Jonathan into the Adamawa state issue until the impeached state governor himself came out to exonerate the President. I think people should try and separate local issues happening in the states from the party’s national leadership.”
In a related development, PDP members of the Nasarawa Assembly met yesterday in Karu and resolved to reject the composition of the 7-man panel probing the allegations they made against the governor.
The panel, headed by Yusuf-Usman, was set up by the Nasarawa State Chief Judge, Suleiman Dikko, to investigate the 16-count impeachment charges levelled against the governor by the lawmakers.
Citing insecurity, 19 members of the Assembly, all members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state held their sitting at a building in Karu Local Government Area, behind the local government secretariat. The four lawmakers, who belong to the governor’s All Progressives Congress, APC, were absent at the sitting.
At the end of the sitting, the lawmakers rejected the seven-member panel, accusing Dikko of disobeying the constitution in setting up the panel.
Announcing the decision of the Assembly, Speaker Musa Mohammed ( PDP – Nasarawa Central ) said that the composition of the panel negates the provision of Section188 of the Constitution.
Mohammed also said the panel has no right to sit until a guideline is forwarded to them by the Assembly.
He alleged that the panel was not formed in compliance with Section 188-5 of the constitution that demands that people of integrity to be appointed into the panel.
The Assembly based its decision on a petition written by a group, Nasarawa Concerned Citizens, alleging irregularities in the composition of the panel.
The petition, which was read on the floor of the Assembly, alleged that two of the seven members of the panel are card carrying members of PDP while others are in the pay roll of the state government.
Danladi Jatau moved a motion urging the chief judge to dissolve the panel while Philip Gyunka supported the motion.
The Speaker then directed the clerk to communicate the resolution to the chief judge.
Reacting to the resolution of the Assembly, the Nasarawa State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Innocent Lagi, said that the action of the Assembly is the highest level of insanity. He urged residents of the state to disregard the resolution.
ABUJA — Contrary to belief in some quarters that last week’s meeting of President Goodluck Jonathan with the Speaker and four other members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly resolved to drop the ongoing impeachment against the state governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, the meeting was only aimed at giving the president progress report of the impeachment.
Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura
Vanguard gathered that Jonathan convened the meeting to hear from the lawmakers following outcry by the All Progressives Congress, APC, faithful and the attendant street protests by the governor’s loyalists that the 20 legislators that signed the impeachment notice were being pushed by the leadership of the state’s opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to oust the governor because of his party affiliation.
Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, had himself, earlier in the week met with the president, ostensibly to intervene in the impeachment threat against him by the legislators.
But the Nasarawa State chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Yunana Iliya, who feigned ignorance of the president’s meeting with the legislators in a telephone interview with Vanguard, yesterday, said even if any meeting took place, it was not aimed at making the lawmakers to back down in their action.
He said no intervention would save the governor as members of the state House of Assembly had never gone out of the constitutionally required provisions in the discharge of their functions regarding the impeachment.
It was gathered that at the meeting with the president at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, last Thursday, the five members of the state legislature, mandated by others to meet with the president, presented the 16-count charge that forms the grounds of the impeachment to the president to convince him that they were not on a self-seeking mission.
An aide to one of the legislators that attended the meeting disclosed that the legislators, apart from taking time to brief the president of the alleged impeachable offences the governor has committed, told him (the president) the heart-rending story of how the governor had maltreated them.
“Although, I did not accompany my oga to the meeting, I was privy to hear that at the meeting, they told the president how the governor has been using thugs to intimidate them at the assembly complex over some of their actions he (governor) perceives to be contrary to his policies,” he said, pleading not to be named.
Jonathan, who was said to have listened to the legislators with rapt attention, was said to have remained speechless for a while before contributing to the meeting.
Iliya, who told Vanguard that he was not averse to any meeting with the president and leader of the party regarding the current ugly political development in the state, noted that there was no reason for such a meeting because the legislators were right in what they were doing.
Umaru Tanko Al-makura’s days as governor of Nasarawa State may be numbered as the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Suleiman Umar Dikko yesterday finally sets up a seven-man committee to investigate the alleged gross misconduct and misappropriation leveled against him by the state lawmakers.
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly had Wednesday directed the Chief Judge to constitute the investigative panel, and without hesitation complied with the directive in accordance with the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.
In compliance, Justice Suleiman said the constitution of the investigative panel was based on the power conferred on him by the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended under Section 188(5) has approved the appointment of seven (7) Man Panel to investigate allegations of Gross Misconduct against the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, Umaru Tanko Al-makura.
“The seven (7) man committee will be chaired by Yusuf Shaibu Usman with the following people as members: Mohammed Sabo, Rt. Rev. Dr. Joel Galadima, Alh. Abdul Usman, Samuel Chaku, Mohammed Sani Usman and Pastor David Chaga.
While swearing in the panel of investigation, justice Suleiman quoted the section 188 (7) which state that “a panel of appointed under this section shall have powers and exercise its functions in accordance with such procedure as maybe prescribed by the house of assembly within three month of its appointment, report its finding to the house of assembly”.
The chief justice also confirmed that the Assembly had duly passed the impeachment notice to the Governor which warranted his appointment of the panel of investigation as enshrine in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria.
Meanwhile as the clock is ticking faster, the embattled governor Al-makura is still holding a claim that he had not been served the notice of impeachment by the house, and thereby condemning saying that “the assembly members are acting against the provisions of the constitution which demand that the impeachment notice be served him and not published on daily newspapers”.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that the Clark of the house of assembly had on two separate occasions attempted to serve the notice to the governor but was stopped by security operatives at the entrance gate to the government house. Sequel to that the house proceeded to the High court and swore an affidavit to that effect and went ahead to publish the notice of the impeachment.
The Assembly which three days ago directed Justice Suleiman, to constitute the investigative panel based its submission on section 188, subsection 3 & 4 of the 1999 constitution as amended and added that it had formed the two-third majority required by law, “which is 20 out of 24 lawmakers in the assembly that appended their signatures for the governor to be investigated.”
The governor while giving his first address to his supporters during a solidarity protest since the impeachment process started at the Lafia Government House on Thursday after his return from Abuja, said the bids to oust him was baseless and therefore would not work out.
A-lmakura who was out of the state to Abuja for the past two weeks begging the powers that be so as to escape impeachment by the die-hearted assembly members who have vowed to end the tenor of Al-makura over his gross misconducts and his financial misappropriations laid against him by the state House of assembly.
The embattled governor had not debunked allegations of gross misconduct leveled against his administration but busy hiring the services of some senior Advocates of Nigeria SAN with the hope that he may escape impeachment. Would the SAN in their numbers and experience save Almakura from impeachment? The panel of investigation will determine that soon.
President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday met behind closed-doors with six members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly.
The meeting was believed to be the President’s way of intervening in the impeachment process that the lawmakers had instituted against the state Governor, Tanko Al-Makura.
Al-Makura had met with the President over the weekend in his bid to stop his removal from office.
The members of the assembly who met with Jonathan on Thursday were led by their Speaker, Musa Muhammed.
The Deputy National Chairman, South, of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, also joined in the meeting.
The National Chairman, Adamu Muazu, is currently on lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Muhammed, however, told State House correspondents at the end of the parley that the meeting was a private one.
When pressed further to disclose whether the meeting had changed the situation in the state, the Speaker said he did not have the mandate of the assembly to speak with journalists.
He said only the Chairman of the House Committee on Information was mandated to speak to journalists.
“It is a private visit. We are here to see the President on a private visit. I do not have the mandate of the assembly to address the press. We have the Chairman of the House Committee on Information who we have agreed should be talking on our behalf,” he said.
When asked whether the assembly was under pressure from the Presidency or any other quarters to drop the impeachment process, Muhammed asked, “Who is putting pressure on who?”
Secondus, who came out of the President’s office a few minutes after the lawmakers, claimed he did not come with them.
However, when further probed on what stakeholders should be expecting with the President’s intervention, he said consultation was still ongoing.
“I came in here before the members of Nasarawa House of Assembly. It is a consultation with Mr. President. I can’t tell you whatever but we are consulting,” he simply said.
The Speaker, Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Alhaji Musa Ahmed on Monday, directed the Clerk of the House to serve Gov. Tanko Al-Makura with notice of impeachment for `gross misconduct’.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the development followed a motion of public interest raised by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Mr Yahaya Usman (PDP-Umaisha/Ugya) during plenary in Lafia.
Usman presented a document signed by 20 of the 24 members of the Assembly which contained the allegations of gross misconduct against the governor.
He said: “I am on my feet to raise a motion under matters of public interest and I will go directly to read the document I have in my hand.
“This is a notice of impeachment for Gov. Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state for gross misconduct.
“For violating the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, today being the 14th day of July, 2014, the 20 members of the 24 members of this house unanimously endorsed to serve Gov. Tanko Al-Makura notice of impeachment,” he said.
The Chief Whip Mr Mohammed Okpede, (PDP-Doma North) seconded the motion.
The speaker, (PDP-Nasarawa Central), who officially received the impeachment notice, said the House had complied with the provision of the constitution to serve the governor with impeachment notice.
He directed the clerk to immediately serve the notice on Al-Makura on July 14.
He said: “In the event his excellency, Gov.Tanko Al-Makura could not be reached for service, the clerk is directed to serve him with the impeachment notice through the media (NAN)
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/nasarawa-gov-al-makura-gets-impeachment-notice/#sthash.QWlFiTk7.dpuf
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly had Wednesday directed the Chief Judge to constitute the investigative panel, and without hesitation complied with the directive in accordance with the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.