It’s illegal, says APC
By Bode Olagoke
Abuja
The plot to impeach Nasarawa state Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura took another dimension yesterday as the state lawmakers sat outside the capital Lafia with a view to actualising their plan, a move attributed to pressure from the sponsors of the impeachment.
The lawmakers met to further press on the state Chief Judge to disband the seven-man probe panel set up to investigate alleged wrongdoings against the governor which they had claimed was tilted in favour of the embattled governor.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has however described the sitting as “an illegality and will have no effect.”
A source who was privy to the sitting but does not want his name in print told Blueprint that the lawmakers’ latest move was driven by the pressure from those “who are pushing for the impeachment.”
The source said President Jonathan had advised the lawmakers against the impeachment when he met with them last week, but maintained that some influential PDP stalwarts who are behind the plot are hell-bent on going on with the process.
The source said the idea behind yesterday’s sitting was “to create an impression that the assembly ordered the Chief Judge to disband the panel and recall the report on expiry of the constitutional period allowed for the panel and go ahead with the impeachment.”
Another dependable source told our correspondent that anti-Al-Makura lawmakers had stopped dropping Jonathan’s name, but now drop the names of the president of the Senate and other members of the National Assembly from the North-central zone.
Also, the governor’s Special Assistant on Special Duties, Barrister Mohammed Abdullahi, told Blueprint: “I doubt whether the Senate president will go so low to support the subversion of the Nigerian Constitution. If truly he does, it’s unfortunate.”
Also reacting, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said: “We are not surprised at what is going on. It is part of the impunity being perpetrated by the PDP, but we are not in any way worried because the indictment of governor cannot be justified or sustained under any circumstance.
“Our stand is that any sitting of the House of Assembly conducted outside Lafia is an illegality and will have no effect. We are aware that the impeachment plot was being instigated by the PDP with the aim of decapitating opposition parties ahead of 2015.”
When contacted, the Press Secretary to the Speaker, Nasarawa state House of Assembly, Mr. Ibrahim Tanko, who confirmed the development, explained that the only the PDP lawmakers led by the speaker sat at Karu local government and decided when they noticed that their lives were not safe, adding that there was an assassination attempt on one of the lawmakers which resulted in the burning of his car earlier yesterday morning.
He said: “The lawmakers discovered that most of the panel members, set up by the Chief Judge of the state, are card-carrying members of the APC and they have directed the Chief Judge to disband the panel and set up another one.”
