Don’t Impeach For Political Reasons

It was curious that a governor who is facing grave impeachment charges would be swearing in new officials until reports from Adamawa had it that this was part of an effort to heal the rift between the governor and the legislators. Nyako’s failure to swear in the administrators after the legislators approved the list was […]

It was curious that a governor who is facing grave impeachment charges would be swearing in new officials until reports from Adamawa had it that this was part of an effort to heal the rift between the governor and the legislators. Nyako’s failure to swear in the administrators after the legislators approved the list was said to be one of the hidden factors behind the impeachment move. There were also reports of meetings being held between the two parties at which efforts were made to resolve the impasse.
Yet, other happenings on the ground in Yola suggest that there has been no resolution of the dispute and the impeachment process is coasting along. This is because, after many days’ false starts, the seven-member panel set up by the Acting Chief Judge to investigate allegations of gross misconduct levelled against Nyako and Ngilari finally commenced sitting last Friday. Acting Chief Judge Ambrose Mammadi set up the panel 10 days ago following the adoption of the impeachment motion against the two men by 20 of the 25 Assembly members. Nyako tried to stymie the panel’s sittings by declaring a two-day public holiday last Monday and Tuesday. The panel side-stepped this obstacle by taking off without formal inauguration; the High Court’s Chief Registrar said a formal inauguration was not necessary.
The panel had difficulty serving notices on Nyako and Ngilari to appear before it. With both men evading service, notices were pasted at the gates of their offices. Next, the panel had difficulty finding a suitable venue for its public sittings.  At least two hotels turned down its request to use their facilities, as did the state branch of the Nigeria Union of Journalists [NUJ] and the local government employees’ union [NULGE]. The panel finally began its public sittings last Friday at the conference room of the Federal Secretariat in Yola, a venue mildly suggestive of the interest that Federal authorities have in this impeachment saga.
Neither Governor Nyako nor deputy governor Bala Ngilari turned up at the panel’s first sitting, nor were they represented by counsel. The state Assembly was, however, represented by a delegation led by deputy speaker Kwamoti Laori. The House’s legal team led by Duro Ajeleye presented its case by leading the chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts Theman Wafarninyi in evidence. This he did by tendering 22 exhibits against Nyako and another six against Ngilari, accusing them of various crimes including withholding workers’ salaries, releasing money to some agencies far in excess of provisions of the Appropriation law and collecting a N2 billion bank loan without the Assembly’s approval. Another charge was that out of N500million the Federal Government provided to the state as relief funds for victims of the 2012 flood disaster, N400 million was diverted by the committee headed by Secretary to the State Government Mr. Kobis Ari Thinmu. Thinmu has since been in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over this allegation. The panel then adjourned sitting to another date to give both Nyako and Ngilari time to appear before it.
On the face of it, the impeachment panel headed by Alhaji Abubakar Kaigama is doing its work diligently. On the face of it also, the charges levelled against Governor Nyako and his deputy by the lawmakers are impressive. Many Nigerians would think they constitute the gross misconduct provision required by the Constitution for impeaching elected executive officers and removing them from office. However impressive the charges sound though, however damning the exhibits look and however eloquently the Assembly members and their lawyers present the case, no one should jump to conclusions that the case has been proved until he hears Nyako and Ngilari tell their own side of the story.
That, however, is what the public is unlikely to hear. Both Nyako and Ngilari are determined not to appear before the Kaigama panel because they believe the entire process is an exercise in political witch hunt. Their refusal to appear before the panel is based on their claim that the High Court had earlier restrained the Assembly from forging ahead with the process. The MPs on their part claim that the injunction was discharged.
So, while their stance could be legally shaky, many Nigerians would agree with Nyako and his deputy that settling political scores, and not any real desire to ensure accountability and punish misconduct, is at the heart of this impeachment process. Two issues in particular. One is that Nyako, who was thrice elected on PDP’s platform, angered that party by defecting to APC along with four other governors. Since all 25 members of the state assembly are PDP members, it clearly wants to get even. Similarly, Nyako incurred the wrath of the Jonathan Presidency when he alleged, first at a seminar in Washington and then in a letter to fellow Northern governors, that Jonathan is behind the insurgency that has wracked several Northern states.
It is for these two reasons that we urge members of the Adamawa State Assembly not to proceed with this process to impeach Governor Nyako and Deputy Governor Ngilari. We urge them to hearken to the advice of elder statesmen, royal fathers and clerics to allow peace to prevail in a state that is currently under a state of emergency. If indeed Nyako and his government have committed some blunders, they should find ways to rectify them short of impeachment, since he has less than a year to serve as governor anyway. The overriding concern should be the peace of the state. Elected officials should not be impeached just to settle political scores.