I m p e a c h m e n t Nasarawa lawmakers reject probe panel

Moves by the Nasarawa State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Umaru Al-Makura took a dramatic turn yesterday when lawmakers sat outside the state capital and passed a resolution rejecting the investigation panel set up by the Chief Judge.The legislators, who held an emergency plenary session at Karu, near Abuja, accused Chief Judge Suleiman Dikko […]

Moves by the Nasarawa State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Umaru Al-Makura took a dramatic turn yesterday when lawmakers sat outside the state capital and passed a resolution rejecting the investigation panel set up by the Chief Judge.
The legislators, who held an emergency plenary session at Karu, near Abuja, accused Chief Judge Suleiman Dikko of bias in setting up the panel, which is to investigate the 16 allegations of misconduct against Al-Makura.
It is the report that this committee would produce that the lawmakers would have to rely on to either remove or clear the governor. The constitution provides that if the probe panel finds the governor not guilty of any of the charges, then that would be the end of the impeachment proceedings.
The lawmakers decided to sit in Karu because protesters had besieged the assembly premises in Lafia, where they chased away the clerk and other staffers.
During the plenary session, the House of Assembly asked the Chief Judge to reconstitute the panel because it was full of “people with questionable characters.”
Daily Trust learnt that the sitting was held amidst tight security, and the lawmakers then rushed back to Abuja where they have been staying since July 14 when they kicked off the impeachment process.
Briefing journalists at a hotel in Asokoro, Abuja later House spokesman Mohammed Baba-Ibaku said the lawmakers’ objection to the panel composition was based on a petition from Musa Danjuma and Isa Abubakar.
He said the petitioners alleged that some members of the committee are card-carrying members of political parties, while others are state government employees.
“(The) Assembly sat this afternoon in Karu based on a petition received from Musa Danjuma and Isa Abubakar who alleged that the Chief Judge appointed persons of questionable characters into the committee. Some of the members are card-carrying members of PDP and APC,” he said.
He said also that one of the panel members is president of GWADECA, an association Gwandara ethnic group which Al-Makura belongs to. One other member of the committee is a close ally of the governor, Ibaku added.
“We therefore resolved that the Chief Judge should dissolve the committee and appoint fresh members into it. Section 188 (7) of the constitution says the committee cannot sit until the assembly gives them guidelines,” he said.
On why the legislators abandoned their assembly chambers in Lafia to sit in Karu, Ibaku said Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution permits them to hold sessions in any part of the country provided the mace, which is the symbol of authority, is present.
He said the meeting was presided over by the Speaker Ahmed Musa Mohammed and attended by 19 other lawmakers.
Protesters besiege Assembly
Earlier yesterday, pro-Al-Makura youths stormed the assembly complex around 8am and chased out the clerk, Mr. Ego Mai-Keffi, and other staffers.
They went after a legislative aide, forced him out of the car he was driving and set it on fire at Akruba in the outskirts of Lafia.
Daily Trust learnt that the clerk was at the complex to prepare for an emergency sitting of the lawmakers.
Police spokesman ASP Umaru Ismaila said the deployment of armed policemen in Lafia and the assembly complex had no connection with any planned session. He confirmed the burning of a car belonging to a lawmaker but said the circumstance was still being investigated.
Following the protest, the lawmakers, all of them members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), decided to sit at Karu. The Karu local government chairman, Mr. Godwin Chindo, told Daily Trust the lawmakers had not contacted him yesterday.
In his reaction, House Minority Leader Tanko Maikato (APC, Lafia-Central) said he heard rumours that his colleagues were coming from Abuja to hold an emergency session. The House has been on recess, and is scheduled to reconvene on August 4.
He said he did not receive any notification from either the speaker or the clerk on the session.
“We were hearing they are going to sit. But the House Rule is clear on this, during recess, if the House is to reconvene members are notified through public announcement or text messages. But this did not happen during the last sitting, today too, we are just hearing it in rumours,” he said.
Maikato added that none of the four All Progressives Congress (APC) members in the House were notified of the session.
He expressed concern that his colleagues in the PDP were introducing “strange” House rules, and exacerbating tension in the state.
“If they are patriotic about the state, they have to be as open as possible, to reduce tension. They don’t need to operate secretly if it is for the sake of our people,” he said.
“The president intervened last week, and I think they should have respected the fact that the president intervened, by what I read in the media, by returning to the state to do the right thing.”
Meanwhile, the 7-member probe panel constituted by Chief Judge Suleiman Dikko will commence sitting today, spokesman for the State High Court of Justice Mr. Enoch Ali Maku told Daily Trust.
“They will commence sitting tomorrow (today),” Mr. Maku said by telephone yesterday.
The panel has three months to investigate the allegations against Al-Makura and submit a report. It comprises Yusuf Shehu Usman as chairman, and Mohammed Sabo Keana, Reverend Joel Galadima, Alhaji Abdul Usman, Samuel Chaku, Mohammed Sani Usman and Pastor Daniel Chaga as members.