Following the impeachment of the Governor of Nassarawa State Tanko Al-makura, the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor of Nassarawa State on Public Affairs , Abdulhammid Kwara said that the Governor is yet to receive an impeachment notice from the State House of Assembly
Speaking on Channel’s Television’s Saturday breakfast program, Sunrise, Mr Kwara spoke on the issues revolving around the impeachment and how it relates to the future of democracy.
Mr Kwara stated that the House of Assembly has not officially given a letter of impeachment to the governor,even though the impeachment has been set in motion.
“The impeachment notice has been set in motion, we are only waiting for the impeachment letter officially and then we will respond”. He also noted that the situation has gotten people of the state to be restive and willing to protect their mandate.
He debunked claims that the governor went to Abuja to plead for help from the President Goodluck Jonathan insisting that the governor did not in anyway visit the president on the issue, affirming that the governor has made “prudent management, transparency and accountability, the hallmark of his administration”.
Also speaking on the impeachment saga, a Senior Lecturer in Accounts Department in the University of Jos, Dr Othman Ibrahim, noted that assuming the allegation was right, the State House of Assembly members were “using a hammer to hit a fly”.
He blamed the Nasarawa of House of Assembly for making a quick decision of impeaching the Governor without giving him the chance to respond to the allegations levelled against him.
“This is an issue that concerns all of them, what other moralities did they make to get to the governor to respond to some of the allegations” adding that “even if they were going to look at the governor’s extra budgeting spending as leveled by them, there were some constitutional provisions for that,” he said.
While arguing that the lawmakers used another member, whom he referred to as “the devil”, he urged them to give the Chief Executive of the State the opportunity to respond to the allegations levelled against him.
In his opinion, he said that the members used another new member “the devil” to settle up on their mind, that they would have gathered some document covering a period to make a case. He said that fair hearing should be given to the Chief executive to respond to them as best that he understands the case being leveled.
Ibrahim further stated that the lawmakers should have gathered evidence(s) for a period of time before starting the impeachment process, adding that the drama revolving around the impeachment notice seems to be larger than the issues contained in the letter.
Judging from the reaction of the people in Adamawa State after the Governor, Murtala Nyako, was impeached, a social commentator, Tokunbo Odutola , said the Adamawa scenario appears completely different from what is obtainable in Nassarawa, whereby the people “are bold enough to say enough is enough to impunity in the state.
“The impeachment is in two-fold. Politics at play and rule of law at play; what is happening is the revolution of the people,” he said.
He stated that the rule of law provides a means you can impeach a governor, noting that “the speaker must in all cause give within 7 days notice to be served to the governor and after that, the governor has 14 days to respond and failure to do so will force the Speaker to set up panel of inquiry to investigate the charges/allegations levelled against the governor, thereby making it a long process,” he emphasized.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Mr Tijani Sulaiman, also speaking on the programme, said “Nigeria is going through a vicious political turmoil; it is either in the North or in the South or in the East. No State is guaranteed safety of political dramas at any point in time” he said.
Mr Sulaiman also said the dramatic change in Nigeria’s political terrain is too much for the country and insisted that due process must be followed in carrying out impeachment processes before the information is officially made public.
Mr Sulaiman, who described Nigeria as a “nobody cares” country, argued that there is a devil finger moving in the country and sucking around the political environment.
He also went down memory lane to narrate Nigeria’s political journey from 1960, noting that “the journey, so far, seems to be good but something intoxicates the political environment, making the political environment to be backward”.
He berated the choice of delegates at the National Conference from the north because of their unpopularity amongst northern youths, claiming that they “do not represent the interest of the region”.