
L-R: Nyako, Fintiri and Jonathan
Tuesday’s removal from office of
Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, may just mark the beginning of
another season of impeachments ahead of 2015, writes JOHN ALECHENU
Tuesday’s removal of the former Governor
of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako (retd.), from office by the
Ahmadu Fintiri-led state House of Assembly, did not come as a surprise
to those familiar with recent happenings in the state. Nyako’s removal
makes it the sixth time a governor has been impeached in the country
since 1999. Before now, five governors namely: Joshua Dariye (Plateau),
Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), DSP Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti)
and Peter Obi (Anambra) were shown the door.
However, the Supreme Court overruled the lawmakers in Oyo, Plateau and Anambra for not following due process.
To Nyako’s opponents, his removal from
office was long in coming because of the battle for the political soul
of the state. Top-ranking politicians, serving and retired military
officers, lawmakers and judicial officers who are indigenes of the state
and who had an axe to grind with the impeached governor, found a common
ground to seek for his removal from office. Their resolve was
strengthened when Nyako took on President Goodluck Jonathan in his memo
to his colleagues in the Northern Governors Forum. Nyako, had in the
said memo in April, 2014, alleged that there was a full-fledged genocide
against northern states and that the Federal Government was using the
attack on Boko Haram to massively kill northerners. He also said that
virtually all the soldiers of Northern Nigerian origin recently
recruited to fight Boko Haram had been deceived in that aspect.
The ex-governor had said, ‘‘They are
being poorly trained, totally ill-equipped, given only uniforms and are
killed by their trainers in Nigerian Army training centres as soon as
they arrive in the Nigerian Army camps being used by the so-called Boko
Haram insurgents. Virtually all the Nigerian Army soldiers
killed/murdered in these operations so far are of Northern Nigeria
origin.
“The Administration has also hired
militia men from all across, especially North Africa, who have been
deceived into accepting to come because they were made to believe that
they would be fighting infidels.”
The retired Naval Admiral, who enjoyed
the rare privilege of serving as Chief of Naval Staff and later Chief of
Defence Staff, was until his foray into politics, a highly successful
commercial farmer. He was made famous by his special breed of mangoes
which earned him the title “Baba Mai Mangoro” among friends and foes
alike.
He was literally dragged into the
governorship race and handed the Peoples Democratic Party governorship
ticket by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was desperate to cause
“home trouble” for his then estranged Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar.
Nyako has to his credit a successful
career in the military having fought on the federal side during the
Nigerian Civil War and has scars on his leg by shrapnel wounds to show
for it. He, however, appears little prepared for the level of intrigues
and treachery which characterises politics in this part of the world.
He unwittingly played into the hands of
his opponents with various political slips. He fought the erstwhile
national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, over the party
structure because he and the former desire the governorship position for
their sons. The face-off led to a breakdown in their relationship.
Some of his other “sins” include his
parting of ways with several of his political benefactors, his decision
to dump the ruling Peoples Democratic Party; whose platform he used to
become governor, and his decision to take on the President and
Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
For all of his offences, the last two
were adjudged unpardonable sins which must not be allowed to go
unpunished. This is even more so when the 2015 general elections are by
the corner with the opposition All Progressives Congress party daily
accusing the President of being “clueless.” The APC also taunts Jonathan
as lacking the requisite qualities required of a leader of the most
populous black nation on the face of the earth. Those familiar with the
politics of the state, argue that the governor has no one other than
himself to blame for the turn of events.
According to several political leaders
from the state, who for strategic reasons sought anonymity, the governor
behaved like an inexperienced general, who fought several battles
against more powerful opponents at the same time.
As one of such individuals confided in
our correspondent, “Nyako should have known that the game was up when he
left the PDP without his deputy and a substantial number of members of
the State House of Assembly. He should have learnt a thing or two from
his friends in Kano and Rivers states. To make matters worse, instead of
retracing his steps and making peace he decided to take on the
President through that ill-advised memo to Northern governors. He did
all these having the full knowledge that people like the former
Political Adviser to the President, Ahmed Gulak, the Chief of Defence
Staff and other indigenes of the state who have the ears of the
President are his political rivals who were prepared to capitalise on
any slip to deal with him.”
Another source said “I am aware that the
governor had an agreement with at least 11 of the legislators long
before the crisis that consumed him began, he had a welfare package
agreement with them, and he never honoured it for once. They were only
too happy to join others when the chips were down.”
The die was cast when members of the PDP
dominated state House of Assembly accused Nyako of gross misconduct and
prepared a list of impeachable offences against him and his deputy, Mr.
Bala Ngilari.
It became apparent that the governor’s
days were numbered when the then acting Chief Judge of the state,
Justice Ambrose Mammadi, reversed himself barely 48 hours after he threw
out a request to set up a panel to investigate the governor. Mammadi
set up a seven-man committee to investigate the allegations, setting off
a chain of events which led to the ouster of the governor.
The panel which was inaugurated on a
Monday sat only thrice and produced a report. Section 188 of the 1999
Constitution, stipulates that such a panel has three months to
investigate such allegations, and allow the respondents to defend
themselves.
Some, however, argue that this
constitutional provision only gives a time limit of three months within
which the panel can sit and not that it has to sit for that long. Those
in this school of thought observed that none of the previous impeachment
probe panels in the country sat for that long.
Although there have been spirited efforts
by federal authorities to distance themselves from Nyako’s removal, the
decision of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to freeze the
state accounts without a court order calls to question such claims.
Nyako’s declaration absolving the
President of complicity in his travails was considered as an olive
branch from the then embattled governor. It was a gesture which came a
little too late.
The opposition APC had as far back as
December, 2013 when five governors defected from the PDP to the APC,
cautioned against a plot by the ruling party to declare the seats of the
affected governors vacant.
The governors include: Rabiu Kwankwaso
(Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Aliyu Wamako
(Sokoto) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).
In a statement signed by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party had said, “We have
irrefutable evidence that the PDP is desperately shopping for a pliant
judge who will be heavily induced to declare vacant the seats of the
five governors who recently defected to the APC. We also have the name
of the lawyers who have been retained by the PDP for this hatchet job.
“We know the PDP and the Presidency are
anarchic and nihilistic, and will not mind to pursue any narrow and
selfish objective, even if doing such can plunge the nation into crisis.
But their cup is gradually getting full.
“Having got away with their trademark
impunity in Delta and Anambra states, these lawless, reckless and
feckless people of malfeasance now believe they can continue to act
without regards to the laws of the land and with no scintilla of
decency.”
Already, the Governor of Nassarawa State,
Alhaji Tanko Almakura, has been served with an impeachment notice and
is currently fighting the political battle of his life. Alleged attempts
to win over legislators in Rivers State to move against the Governor
Rotimi Amaechi have so far been unsuccessful because a majority of the
legislators are supportive of the governor.
Nyako’s removal and the loss of Ekiti
State have undoubtedly dealt a blow to permutations by the opposition
APC in the runoff to the 2015 elections. It was learnt that the party
had pressured Nyako to hang on at a time he wanted to resign. It remains
to be seen how the party will respond to what appears to be PDP’s gale
of strategic victories.
Nigerians are watching with keen interest how Fintiri, who was sworn-in on Tuesday, would pilot the affairs of the state.
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