Al-Makura faces impeachment

The state Assembly has announced that 20 out of its 24 members have signed the impeachment notice of 16-count charges, which allege, among other issues, that the governor presided over the misappropriation of about N13 billion in three years, extra budgetary expenditure, gross misconduct and abuse of public office.Sixteen of the 24 members rushed back […]

The state Assembly has announced that 20 out of its 24 members have signed the impeachment notice of 16-count charges, which allege, among other issues, that the governor presided over the misappropriation of about N13 billion in three years, extra budgetary expenditure, gross misconduct and abuse of public office.
Sixteen of the 24 members rushed back from an ongoing recess and held a plenary session that lasted only about 12 minutes where they deliberated only on one item – the impeachment process, which was raised under “Matters of Public Interest”. The session, which commenced immediately after members held an Executive session behind closed doors, lasted between 11:30am and 11:43am.
The session was held as the state awaited the arrival of President Goodluck Jonathan, who was in the state to commission a farm owned by a foreign investor, Olam Nigeria Limited, in Ondorie-Rukubi area of Doma Local Government.
The governor was already on the farm at about 11:43am awaiting the arrival of Mr. President when the House passed the impeachment motion. The president arrived in the state in a helicopter, minutes after the impeachment proceedings presided over by Speaker Musa Ahmed Mohammed rounded off.
The speaker said the House had to recall members from the ongoing recess because of the urgency and the importance of the matter.
A motion under “Matters of Public Interest” was raised by the Deputy Majority Leader, Yahaya Usman Ohinoyi (PDP, Umaisha/Ugya), who presented the motion on notice containing the 16-point charges. He announced that the notice was signed by 20 of the 24 members.
Daily Trust investigations revealed that the 20 members are all state legislators of the PDP; the four who did not sign are all members of the APC – Al-Makura’s party.
Ohinoyi said: “I am on my feet to raise a motion under the matter of public interest, and I will go direct to read the document I have in my hands. This is a notice of impeachment of Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State for gross misconduct.
“And for the violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, today being the 14th July, 2014, the 20 members of the 24 members of this House unanimously endorsed to serve Governor Tanko Al-Makura notice of impeachment,” he said.
Mohammed Okpede (PDP, Doma-North), who is also the Chief Whip, seconded the motion.
The Speaker, Musa Ahmed (PDP, Nasarawa Central), who officially received the impeachment notice, announced that members have complied with the provisions of the constitution, empowering them to do so.
The Speaker directed the Clerk of the House, Mr. Ego Mai-Keffi, to serve the impeachment notices to Al-Makura on the same day, and not to hesitate to publish it in the media should the governor evade direct service.
The allegations against Al-Makura
House committee chairman on Information Mohammed Baba Ibaku (PDP, Udege/Loko) told Daily Trust on phone, minutes after the House proceedings that the impeachment process became necessary after a report of recent probes instituted by the House indicted Al-Makura over alleged sundry offences including “misappropriation of funds, or outright diversion.”
“The notice contains 16 charges against the governor. Other allegations border on gross misconduct, and abuse of office.”
He enumerated some of the offences to include “the recent recruitment of hundreds of youths without budgetary provisions for the expenditure; the SUBEB (State Universal Basic Education Board) spent over and above N800 million on a friend of the governor and his in-law; the probe discovered that the sum of N2 billion was missing from the Local Government Joint Accounts.
“There is also the issue of SURE-P funds recklessly spent by the Local Government ministry. The investigation showed that over N700 million is missing. There is also N400 million flood intervention funds which the federal government sent last two years. It is missing,” Ibaku added.
Daily Trust called the clerk, Mr. Mai-Keffi, who said the notice had not reached the governor as at 3pm, when this report was still being compiled.
“Not yet, we have not served the governor. As soon as they return from Doma, we will serve him,” he said, but declined to make known the detailed content.
Impeachment proceeding illegal, says Attorney General
Meanwhile the state Attorney General and commissioner of Justice, Barrister Lagi Innocent has described the development as “cooked to serve selfish interest,” insisting also that it is an illegal process.
He explained that the assembly probed the government from 2011 and 2014 on various issues including alleged extra-budgetary expenditure, at the time they had passed three annual budgets and three supplementary budgets, describing their action as illegal.
He said members had a predetermined motive that is less than noble. “It is our country; it is our state; all of us. It is what we cook that we eat. Public office is public trust, and it is about the people. If members feel convinced that they have answered the aspiration of the people of Nasarawa, so be it.
 “But I see a situation of toying with public interest to satisfy personal interests. There is everything fundamentally wrong with this. I have issues with the assembly; they are overstretching their powers with impunity. What is the goal to be achieved from this; whose interest? They are representing our various communities; I hope they represent us well,” Lagi said.
‘Members promised automatic ticket’
Sources, who swiftly reacted to the proceedings, alleged that the legislators rushed back from the recess only to carry out a hatchet job. The sources said a member of the National Conference going on in Abuja brokered the deal for members, part of which is that they will benefit from automatic ticket for re-election to return to the House in 2015.
But Baba Ibaku denied the allegations, insisting that the government has been sponsoring a smear campaign against members, the PDP, and the Presidency, to blackmail them against dropping any probe against Al-Makura.
Lawmakers, a week ago, rounded up a month-long investigation into the expenditure profile of the government since 2011 when Al-Makura assumed office, sparking off fresh allegations that the House returned to the shelves to dust up an old impeachment plot into implementation.
On November 3, 2013, members resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to look into reports presented by four standing committees which carried out oversight of the government of Al-Makura between May 29, 2011 when the governor assumed office, and November of that year.
The Francis Orogu (Keana)-led ad-hoc committee was mandated, at a plenary session, to look into reports of the House committees on Public Accounts; Health; Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Commerce and Industry and Capital Market; all of which indicted the state executive alleged extra budgetary expenditure amounting to about N3 billion.
Before the House went on the ongoing recess, members again mandated two separate committees, one a joint committee of Public Accounts and that of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs and the other on Public Complaints and Petitions to carry out separate probes of the government. The joint committee probed SURE-P funds going to the local governments, after members’ oversight to the Local Governments ministry, while the Public Petitions committee entertained a petition by some contractors, and probed into the expenditures and transactions of the state Universal Basic Education (UBE).
Hearing into the probes concluded last week, with the reports of the two committees, as well as the previous one, forming part of the allegations contained in the impeachment notice.