Mr Boga said the impeachment has vindicated the group, who had earlier accused the governor of 12 of the 20 allegations levelled against him by the State House of Assembly.
“Out of all the impeachable offences, 20 of them raised, 12 were the issues that we raised earlier, adding that “having him impeached at this time, to me is something that has been long overdue and is the best thing that has happened to Adamawa State”.
Debunking claims that there is more than meets the allegations that led to the impeachment, 7 years after Mr Nyako was sworn into power, Mr Boga noted that “this is not the first time” the former governor was handed an impeachment notice “only that this time around it succeeded”, he said.
He noted that “in June 2008, to be precise, he was also served with impeachment notice by a different set of members of the House of Assembly listing 20 allegations” insisting that “the man was a failure”.
Mr Boga denied that the impeachment plot was instituted because of Mr Nyako’s change of political party, wondering why such plots are yet to be in place for governors of Sokoto (Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako) and Kano (Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso), insisting that his “movement to All Progressives Congress (APC) has nothing to do with the monumental corruption Nyako is involved in and I think it is on that basis that members of the House of Assembly actually impeached him.
“It is not on the basis of whether he has moved to any other party; in any case, he is not the only People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governor that moved to the APC. Why is Wamako stil there? Why is Kwankwanso still there?, no impeachment procedure has been instituted against them, he maintained.
Mr Boga said the “people of Adamawa State should be given a medal for being the most patient human beings to have endured Nyako for even 7 years”.
Further buttressing his point that the impeachment was based on the facts presented to the members of the State House of Assembly, Mr Boga argued that “if it were a party affair, the members would have left the Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari, alone”.
He also noted that the former governor would have been impeached in 2008 but for appeals by stakeholders of the party at that time, who intervened and botched the impeachment saga and blamed the former governor of not carrying the people of Adamawa along in his government for his impeachment.
Acting Governor Sworn-In
Meanwhile, the Adamawa State House of Assembly’s speaker, Umaru Fintiri, has been sworn-in as the Acting Governor after the House impeached the state governor, Murtala Nyako, on allegations of financial impropriety levelled against him and his deputy, Bala Ngilari.
The governor was impeached on Tuesday by the lawmakers after reviewing the report of a panel of inquiry set up to investigate the allegations against him and his deputy.
Earlier, the state Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari, resigned from office to avoid being impeached.
Mr Ngilari’s resignation letter was read at plenary by the speaker of the Assembly, Umaru Fintiri, after which the lawmakers approved it.
The seven man panel, chaired by Mr Bala Kaigama, who submitted the report to the speaker, observed that the panel encountered initial problem of having a venue for sitting but eventually overcame the challenge and produced four volumes of the report on allegations levelled against the governor and the deputy.
Don’t Misuse Power, Atiku Tells PDP
A former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday (July 15) warned the PDP-led Federal Government against what he described as ‘‘excessive use of power’’, which Atiku said was not good for decent democratic practice.
The ex-VP, who was reacting to the impeachment of Nyako, said in a statement issued by his media office in Abuja that wielding the axe of impeachment against elected public office holders in order to settle scores by the Federal Government would needlessly build up tension in the country.
The former Vice-President said, “The reckless use of impeachment to settle scores could not have been the intention of the framers of the 1999 Constitution. The frequency with which elective officials were being shot down by impeachment would destroy the whole purpose of inserting the impeachment clause in the Constitution.
“The use of impeachment to harass and humiliate perceived opponents by the PDP-led Federal Government would ultimately bastardise the spirit in which the constitution provides for the impeachment clause.”
He admonished the Federal Government to take it easy in the way they use power, adding that “the constitution was not meant to provide ammo for anybody to harass and humiliate opponents or force them out of office.”
He also criticised the use of financial inducements to influence the removal of perceived opponents from office.
Nyako’s Impeachment Adds No Value To Nation’s Growth
The All Progressives Congress (APC) says the impeachment of the Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, has no iota of value to add to the Nigeria’s growth and development, and even to the progress of Adamawa State.
In a statement by the chairman of the APC Governors Forum, Mr Rochas Okorocha, released hours after the impeachment on Tuesday, the party stressed that the impeachment of the governor was not what the country needed at a period it is faced with serious security challenges.
Governor Okorocha expressed surprise that in spite of appeals and steps taken by patriotic leaders across the country to make the members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly review their impeachment move against the governor, with a view to resolving whatever was the bone of contention, the legislators still carried out the impeachment.
“What the nation needs most this time should be ideas, unity of purpose and patriotism to deal decisively with the lingering security problems threatening our nationhood and not actions that would further inject bad blood among the leaders of this country and the citizenry in general.
“The impeachment of the Adamawa State Governor and similar impeachment threats against the governors of Nasarawa, Edo, Rivers and so on, could be explained as bad politics of intimidation aimed at stifling the APC as a party and threatening our nascent democracy,” the statement read.
The APC insisted that the impeachment was not a good image laundering for Nigeria, saying it will not encourage other nations willing to help Nigeria come out of the security problem to take the nation serious. (channelstv)
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