By Garba Mohammad
Nineteen out of the twenty five members of the Adamawa State house of Assembly on Wednesday endorsed a move to impeach Governor Murtala Nyako and his deputy Barrister Bala James Ngillari.
The latest move followed weeks of intense altercation between the Executive and Legislative arms of Government which led to the invitation and even arrest of some commissioners who failed to honor the House invitation to answer charges of financial recklessness against them.
The move against the governor was the second time such attempt against him in his 7 years in power following a failed attempt by the James Barka led house to impeach the governor in 2008.
The impeachment motion was moved by the member representing Numan Constituency and Deputy Speaker of the House Barr. Kwamoti Laori who said he was spurred by the height of the financial recklessness that has become the hallmark of Nyako’s Government to move the motion.
The house then went to slam a 20 count charge of gross financial misappropriation which it accuses the government of Nyako of committing leading the state to incur massive losses of resources running into billions of Naira.
Some of the Charges that warranted the move according to the notice of allegation of gross misconduct prepared against the governor and made available to newsmen include:
“Fraudulent award of contract of over N8b through SNECOU Group of Companies Limited, a company linked to one of the governor’s wives to siphon public funds without delivering any services,.
“Corrupt siphoning of the sum of N300m public funds through a company, Hydro Source Resources Ltd in the name of construction of Mubi bye pass road without mobilizing to sight or any construction carried out after collecting N30h.
“Gross Violation of oath of office by outrageous patronage and dominance of family and friend in the discharge of government business such as found in the MDG’s office, the SPPU and Ministry of Health.
“Squandering the sum of N4,805,216,538.32 and N7,114,995,590.85in 2012 and 2013 respectively through the office of the Secretary to the State Government against budgetary approval, and not in the interest of people of Adamawa State.
“Gross Violation of section 120 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and gross misappropriation and diversion of Internally Generated Revenue for personal use to the detriment of the people of Adamawa state.
“Expenditure of exorbitant sum of N2.5b as “Other Miscellaneous Expenses” through the Internal Affairs and Special Services Department.
“Diversion of over N400 million out of the N500 million Federal Government intervention fund for flood victims in Adamawa state in 2011.
“The MDG’s office in Adamawa State is managed by Governor Nyako’s close relations and has squandered N220m and N786,457,644.94 budgeted state’s funds in 2013 for the implementation of MDG’s programmes in the state.
“Abuse of office and violation of Adamawa State Law by appointing his wife, Dr. Halima H Nyako as the Chairman Adamawa State Action Committee on AIDS contrary to the SACA. His government is popularly nicknamed “Government of Family and Friends”.
“Overbearing strangulation of the Local Government Areas and extortion of Local Government funds in the name of joint projects and security challenges in Mubi and other parts of Adamawa State. This leaves many Local Government Areas with nothing to pay worker’s entitlements. The governor is also to consistently contravene section 168 (60 and 8) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Diversion of over N400m out of the N500m Federal Government Intervention fund for flood victims in Adamawa State in 2011”.
The Deputy Governor was similarly not spared by the impeachment dagger dangled by the house of Assembly as he was also said to be neck deep involved in financial recklessness.
While moving the motion for the impeachment of the deputy governor, Bala James Ngillari Hon. Abdulkarim Umar representing Narrasawo/Binyeri constituency listed six grounds of financial misconduct.
He noted that “The deputy governor committed act of gross misconduct in his performance of his duties by diversion of public funds to tune of N 50million released to the deputy governor Adamawa state by the ministry of Finance via the instruction of the executive governor for acquiring license for the exploration of sold minerals in the state.
Other charges leveled against the deputy governor include “Failing in responsibility as provided by section 193 (1) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) in the management of Ministry of Commerce and Industry by embarking on “White Elephant Project” among others,” the notice read.
Investigations have revealed that the Deputy Governor was being made a sacrificial lamb by the PDP as his retention as the Deputy Governor may scuttle the chances of impeaching governor Nyako due to some vested interests.
The speaker of the House of Assembly on whose head the fate of the impeachment lies was said to be jittery of removing Nyako as Ngillari his worst political arch rival will be the greatest beneficiary of the project as such, the speaker was said to be paying lip service to the move which was allegedly being spearheaded by the presidency to teach Nyako a bitter political lesson for his criticism and opposition against the Presidency.
Signs which suggests that Ngillari may become the victim of circumstance starts emanating when the Adamawa State PDP Chairman stated that the Gubernatorial seat of the party will be rotated to Adamawa central a move that was seen as the first step to deny Ngillari the chance of becoming the next governor as he was from Adamawa North.
Sources said efforts made by Ngillari to extricate himself from the difficult situation has seemingly proved abortive as he was unable to get the listening ears of the presidency as the Presidency was hell bent in sacrificing him to achieve his goal of getting Nyako out of the way.
However, the impeachment move has flared tension in the state capital as thousands of people trooped to the street to protest the impeachment move by the house of Assembly.
The protesters, carried placards with inscriptions Adamawa House of Assembly why impeachment now?, The House of Assembly wanted to truncate the fragile peace in the state, You just passed a vote of confidence on the governor and his administration, why the sudden change now?
While reacting to the impeachment move, Director of Press and Public Affairs to Governor Nyako Mallam Ahmad Sajo said the Governor is not aware of the move and it remains in the realm of a wild speculation.
