— Declares today and tomorrow work-free days
— PDP chieftains, others move to save deputy governor
By Ibrahim Abdul’Aziz
Yola
In an apparent desperate move to scuttle the impeachment process against him, Adamawa state Governor Murtala Nyako yesterday declared today and tomorrow as work-free days.
In a statement, the Director of Press to the Governor, Malam Ahmad Sajoh, said: “Governor Murtala Nyako has approved Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th July as work-free days in Adamawa state.
“This is to enable the people to reflect on the current happenings in the country and to use the period to offer special prayers for peace in the state and the country.
“The period is to also allow Adamawa workers reflect on their current challenges. It is also a thanksgiving period for citizens to appreciate God’s protection despite all the challenges.”
However, the declaration of work-free days was greeted with imprecations as anti-Nyako groups believe that it was a grand political calculation by the governor’s camp to prevent the acting
Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ambrose Mammadi, from inaugurating the seven-man panel he had earlier constituted on Friday, as his tenure expired on Sunday July 8.
This means that by the time the two-day holiday would expire, the tenure of the acting chief judge would have elapsed.
A constitutional lawyer in the state, Barrister Joshua Sunday Wugira, argued that the decision of the government would not affect the constitution of the investigative panel as the extension of the tenure of the acting CJ was the exclusive preserve of the National Judicial Council, saying that with the prevailing situation in Adamawa the NJC would take the appropriate action.
Also reacting, the state Secretary of the PDP, Barr. A.T. Shehu, noted that Section 188 sub-section 1-10 provides that once the committee has been set up, any high court judge or notary public can inaugurate it, saying they were not perturbed by the antics of the government.
Already, the governor’s camp has declared its intention to challenge the inauguration of the panel, going by the court rejection of the House of Assembly’s substituted service.
Reports indicate that the acting CJ has vowed to go ahead with the inauguration despite the holiday, saying that they can challenge the government’s decision as it was not appropriate.
Meanwhile, there were strong indications yesterday that some PDP chieftains and other stakeholders who initially supported the impeachment have changed their earlier stance against the deputy governor.
Sources told Blueprint that the stakeholders met at the weekend in Abuja and worked assiduously to exonerate the deputy governor, who is the PDP leader in the state, from charges of gross misconduct leveled against him by some state lawmakers.
Insiders revealed that the new stance by the stakeholders was allegedly at the behest of the Presidency, which gave the stakeholders marching orders to exonerate the deputy governor of the allegations due to pressure mounted on the Presidency by a powerful religious group.
Another source said: “Following the intervention of the Presidency, there were high-level meetings between the Adamawa stakeholders in Abuja, which took place at the houses of former PDP national chairman Bamanga Tukur and former special adviser to the president on political matters, Ahmad Ali Gulak.
“During the first meeting, which took place at Bamanga Tukur’s residence, the stakeholders could not agree on who should be the deputy governor if Ngillari was cleared off, because Bamanga insisted on the emergence of his eldest son, Awwal D. Tukur,’’ said insider.
The meeting was later shifted to Gulak’s residence where the name of a former Chairman of Girei local government area, Alhaji Abubakar Hamma, was arrived at as the next deputy governor of the state.
It was disclosed that Hamma’s emergence was predicated by his nomination by Prof. Jibril Aminu, the former Adamawa state PDP linkman.
Sources further said if the arrangement was finally sealed, the acting chief judge would be asked to inaugurate the seven-man panel he nominated on Friday which would mark the beginning of a full impeachment action against Nyako.
But officials of the state government insist that any inauguration by the acting CJ was null and void as his three-month tenure elapsed on Sunday.
The Director of Press and Public Affairs the Governor, Malam Ahmad Sajo, said, the acting CJ could only inaugurate the panel in breach of the constitution as his tenure would elapse on Sunday.
