“Let me once again salute the courage and resilience of our legislators who defied undue pressure to make this a reality.”
These were the words of Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, the Speaker of Adamawa House of Assembly, on Tuesday, shortly after he was sworn-in as the Acting Governor of Adamawa by Justice Ambrose Mammadi, the Acting Chief Judge of the state.
Nyako Murtala
Observers say that the emergence of Fintiri as the acting governor of Adamawa, following the impeachment of Gov. Murtala Nyako and the resignation of his deputy, Mr Bala Ngilari, is the culmination of the rift between the PDP-dominated legislature and the APC-led government in the state.
The rift degenerated into a full-blown conflict on June 18 when the lawmakers passed a resolution to serve the governor and his deputy notices of gross misconduct.
What followed the service of the notices is now history.
Various reasons have been adduced for the rift between the legislative and executive arms of government in Adamawa but the main reasons include provision of funds for constituency projects, undue rivalry between the APC and PDP in the state and interference of “Abuja politicians’’.
While the conflict culminated in Nyako’s removal and Ngilari’s resignation, stakeholders in the state, particularly politicians, were sharply divided along party lines.
As expected, APC politicians strongly opposed the move to unseat the governor and his deputy, while PDP politicians endorsed it, despite the fact that the action would also consume Ngilari who, prior to his resignation, was the PDP leader in the state.
Dr Umar Ardo, the spokesman of PDP Stakeholders and Elders Forum in the state, issued a communiqué after the forum’s meeting on the impeachment, saying that the removal of Nyako and Ngilari represented the position and desire of the vast majority of the people of the state.
“The removal of the governor and his deputy, leading to the conduct of an election in the state within the constitutionally specified period of three months, represents the best solution to the political and governmental crisis bedevilling the state since the coming of the administration into office.
“The PDP in the state solidly stands by and support the legislature,’’ Ardo said, soliciting the support of the people for lawmakers’ action.
On its part, the APC said that impeachment of Nyako was a script written and acted by the opposition party (PDP) to remove the APC-led government from the state.
A statement by Rev. Pineas Padio, the Publicity Secretary of APC in Adamawa, condemned the impeachment, describing it as “a crude show of power, deployed against our dear state and its people.’’
He also described the Nyako’s impeachment and Ngilari ‘s resignation as “a rape on democracy which would not be allowed to stand.
“Those Abuja PDP politicians have left no one in doubt that they have been threatened by APC’s growing popularity and rattled by Gov. Nyako’s goodwill; hence the use of immoral, illegal and unconstitutional means to seize power from him,’’ Padio said.
Nevertheless, Nyako, in a statement issued by his Director of Press Affairs, Malam Ahmad Sajoh, accepted his impeachment in good faith, saying that he would approach the court to challenge the process for posterity sake.
The statement, issued on July 15 and released around 12.30 p.m. when the Speaker of the Assembly was reading the resignation letter written by the deputy governor, has somewhat thrown up a constitutional matter.
In the statement, Sajoh claimed that Nyako did not receive the letter of resignation written by his deputy, as required by the constitution.
“Our attention has been drawn to the purported resignation of the deputy governor of Adamawa State, Mr Bala Ngilari, which was supposedly read on the floor of the House of Assembly.
“We wish to state categorically that Section 305 (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, requires that a Deputy Governor should forward his or her resignation letter to the Governor, and not the House of Assembly.
“As at the time the supposed resignation was said to have been tendered in the House, Murtala Nyako was the Governor of Adamawa State.
“No such letter was written to him, none was received by him and none was approved by him.
“It should, therefore, be known that in the eye of the law, the deputy governor has not resigned,’’ Sajoh said.
In a swift reaction, Ngilari confirmed that he wrote his resignation letter to the House of Assembly and not to the governor
“To be candid, I did not give any resignation letter to the governor,’’ Ngilari told newsmen on Wednesday.
All the same, Assemblyman Adamu Kamale (PDP-Michika), the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, described the resignation saga as a non-issue, saying: “I have never seen where a dead man rises again.’’
The tense situation in Adamawa has elicited the concern of various groups, including Adamawa State chapter of Muslim Council of Nigeria and Council of Pastors, which sued for peace.
They argued that the current political impasse constituted a serious threat to security, considering the volatile security situation in the entire North-East geopolitical zone.
So far, Nyako and APC have filed no fewer than three litigations, challenging the legality of the impeachment.
While Nyako and the APC are waiting for the court to adjudicate on their lawsuits, the electorate is warming up for the election of a new governor for the state.