The
Adamawa State House of Assembly has commenced impeachment proceedings
against the state governor, Murtala Nyako, and his deputy, Bala Ngilari.
The Assembly on Wednesday directed its clerk to serve Messrs Nyako and Ngilari impeachment notices.
Mr.
Nyako has been having a running battle with the lawmakers since he left
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to join the All Progressives
Congress.
Details of Wednesday’s proceedings at
the Assembly are still sketchy but the decision to commence impeachment
procedure against Mr. Nyako and his deputy climaxes months of
acrimonious relationship between the executive and the legislature in
the North-East state.
The political landscape in the state
tensed up last Wednesday when the Assembly ordered the arrest of four
commissioners for their failure to appear before the lawmakers to
failing to appear before the House to answer questions on the state’s
finances.
At plenary that Thursday, the Deputy Speaker, Kwamoti
Laori (PDP-Numan), who presided, directed the state Commissioner of
Police to arrest commissioners who failed to show up and bring them
before the house on Monday by 10 am.
The affected commissioners
were that of agriculture, Lucy Ishaku; health, Lilian Stephen; commerce,
Ahmed Gorko; and land and survey, Abdulrahman Shuaibu.
The
Assembly, which acknowledged receipt of a letter from the Secretary to
the State Government, Kobis Thimnu, over his inability to honour the
Thursday invitation, asked him to appear unfailingly on Monday.
The
commissioner for Finance, Ibrahim Vokna, his counterpart for Works,
Umaru Atiku, and the state Accountant General, Nasir Mohammed, had
earlier appeared before the house.
The Assembly had on May 27
gave Mr. Nyako and his government an ultimatum of three days to pay back
an alleged illegal deductions made from workers’ salaries and
allowances of May 2014 in the state.
The development fueled speculation in the state that the Assembly was bent on sacking the governor.
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