Soldiers bar gov from Yola airport
By Ibrahim Abdul’Aziz
Yola
Nineteen out of the 25 members of the Adamawa state House of Assembly have endorsed a move to impeach Governor Murtala Nyako and his deputy Barrister Bala James Ngillari.
This was the second time such attempt was made against him following a failed attempt by the James Barka-led House to impeach him in 2008.
A motion was moved by the member representing Numan Constituency and Deputy Speaker of the House, Barr. Kwamoti Laori, who said he was spurred by the height of the “financial recklessness” that had become the hallmark of Nyako’s administration.
Some of the charges against the governor include:
“Fraudulent award of contract of over N8 billion through SNECOU Group of Companies Limited, a company linked to one of the governor’s wives, to siphon public funds without delivering any services.
“Corrupt siphoning of the sum of N300 million public funds through a company, Hydro Source Resources Ltd, in the name of construction of Mubi bye-pass road without mobilising to sight or any construction carried out after collecting N300 million.
“Gross violation of oath of office by outrageous patronage and dominance of family and friends in the discharge of government business such as found in the MDGs office, the SPPU and Ministry of Health.”
The deputy governor was similarly not spared as he was also said to be neck-deep in financial recklessness.
Moving the motion for impeachment of the deputy governor, Hon. Abdulkarim Umar, representing Narrasawo/Binyeri constituency, listed six grounds of financial misconduct.
He said: “The deputy governor committed act of gross misconduct in his performance of his duties by diversion of public funds to tune of N 50 million released to the deputy governor, Adamawa state, by the Ministry of Finance via the instruction of the executive governor for acquiring license for the exploration of sold minerals in the state.
Other charges leveled against the deputy governor included: “Failing in responsibility as provided by section 193 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) in the management of Ministry of Commerce and Industry by embarking on ‘White Elephant Project’ among others.”
Investigation has revealed that the deputy governor was being made a sacrificial lamb by the PDP as his retention in office may scuttle the chances of impeaching Nyako due to some vested interests.
The impeachment move raised tension in the state capital Yola as thousands of people trooped to the streets to protest the impeachment move.
Reacting to the development, the Director of Press and Public Affairs to the Governor, Malam Ahmad Sajo, said the “governor is not aware of the move and it remains in the realm of a wild speculation.”
Meanwhile, soldiers yesterday stopped Governor Nyako from using the Yola International Airport to make a trip to Abuja where he was expected to attend a meeting initiated by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
A source at the airport told Blueprint that the airport was shut against all commercial and private planes based on orders from the authorities in Abuja.
He said Air Force personnel thronged the airport early in the morning and chased staff at the control tower. They also put the entrance to the airport terminal under lock.
A security detail of the governor told reporters that when their contingent arrived at the airport to make the necessary arrangements for the governor’s departure to Abuja, they were told that he would not be allowed to use the facility.
Malam Sajoh said the closure was a deliberate attempt to prevent his boss from meeting the United Nations Ambassador, Gordon Brown, who was in the country to kick-start the Save the Schools Initiative.
Sajoh added that the finance minister had earlier announced that a technical session would be held between the stakeholders, including Brown, by 9:00 a.m. yesterday and an invitation was extended to Nyako.
“But in order to prevent him from making the trip, the Yola International airport was deliberately sealed,” he said.
“Following the closure of the airport, the governor has to go through Gombe state to catch a flight before he reached Abuja and fortunately he was able to make it.
“It is sad that just because some people wanted to prevent Governor Nyako from using the airport, it had to be shut down for many hours which affected many people of the state.”
He said the reason advanced by the airport authorities that the airport was shut for military operations “does not hold water as the airport was later re-opened after the governor had left for Gombe.”
Efforts made to get the airport manager for his comment proved abortive as his mobile line was switched off.
