More dust rolls over Achuba’s impeachment
The dust has not settled after Friday’s impeachment of the deputy governor of Kogi State, Elder Simon Achuba, by members of the state House of Assembly over allegations of gross misconduct. This is just as the running mate to Governor Yahaya Bello in the November 16 governorship election, Chief Edward Onoja, has been pencilled to […]
More dust rolls over Achuba’s impeachment
The dust has not settled after Friday’s impeachment of the deputy governor of Kogi State, Elder Simon Achuba, by members of the state House of Assembly over allegations of gross misconduct.
This is just as the running mate to Governor Yahaya Bello in the November 16 governorship election, Chief Edward Onoja, has been pencilled to replace Achuba .
Sources said Onoja would most likely be sworn-in as deputy governor tomorrow. Achuba’s impeachment came a few hours after a seven-man panel set up by the state Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajanah, to investigate him over allegations of gross misconduct submitted its report to the speaker of the state assembly, Matthew Kolawole.
Moments after submitting the report, the lawmakers held an emergency closed-door meeting after which the decision to impeach the deputy governor was reached.
The Leader of the House, Hassan Bello Abdulahi representing Ajaokuta state constituency who announced the decision said Achuba stood impeached after careful consideration of the report of the John Bayashea committee was submitted to the assembly.
He said the report was received, studied and deliberated upon and a unanimous decision was arrived at to impeach him (Achuba) and he, therefore, stood impeached.
However, Achuba has described his impeachment as an act of illegality that would not stand. He said the report submitted to the assembly by the panel never proved any allegation of an act of gross misconduct against him and wondered why the lawmakers could claim to have impeached him.
Achuba insisted that he remained the deputy governor of the state and vowed to seek redress against the decision.
Also, the counsel to the deputy governor, Mr Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), said the impeachment would not stand as it would be challenged in court.
“There is no impeachment. From nothing, nothing comes. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand,” he said.
The chairman of the panel investigating the allegations against Achuba, Mr John Baiyeshea (SAN), in an interview said the panel did not find the deputy governor guilty of any of the allegations levelled against him.
Baiyeshea said, “This is the most bizarre thing I have ever heard in my life. We submitted the report to the speaker around 1 pm (Friday) and I left Lokoja for Abuja. I was in Gwagwalada area when one of the panel members who had not left Lokoja called to tell me that he saw it on television that the deputy governor had been impeached.
“As far as the report that we submitted to the House of Assembly is concerned, the committee returned the decision that all the allegations were not proved. What the Constitution says in Section 188(8) is that once the panel returns a verdict like that, no further proceedings can be taken on it. That is it. It is only when the panel returns a verdict that allegations have been proved (to be true) that they can go ahead within 40 days,” he said.
Meanwhile, Achuba is said to have vacated his official residence following alleged mounting security concerns.
The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Matthew Kolawole, said the assembly took its decision based on the report of the panel, saying there is no going back on the verdict.
He said based on the “Rule of Procedure” given to members of the panel, their assignment was a fact-finding one and they were not to give any judgment.
“The panel submitted the report to us and based on their report, we gave our verdict. In actual sense, there is what we call the rule of procedure which the House provided the panel upon which they acted.
“The rule of procedure says that the panel is a fact-finding panel, they are not to give judgment and it was in the rule of procedure which they accepted.
“They did not have the right to give any judgment at all. The decision of whether the deputy governor is guilty or not guilty is that of the House. If you look at Section 188(11), it says the House of Assembly is the only authority which determines what is gross misconduct. It is not for the panel to say proved or not proved.
“On the issue of the panel’s report flying everywhere, I don’t know where that is coming from. In the rule of procedure, it was written boldly that the panel shall not give the report of their investigation to anybody except to the House of Assembly.
“So, if the panel has gone ahead to release the report to anybody, that means they compromised. Our action was based on the report of the panel and there is no going back from what we have done. If the man (Achuba) is not comfortable with what with our decision, he can go to court.