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 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.
Both the governor and the deputy did not appear before the panel, but it continued with the investigation.
Receiving the report, the Speaker of the House, Honourable Umaru Fintiri, assured the panel that the report would be given appropriate attention, considering the importance of the panel in shaping democracy in Nigeria and the state in particular.
One of the accused, the deputy governor, had expressed concern on the procedure that led to the establishment of the panel, citing it as his reason for not appearing before the panel to defend himself on allegations of improper conduct against him.