In this piece SAMUEL OGIDAN looked at the issues that led to the sack of former acting governor of Adamawa state, Umar Fintiri
The sack of former acting governor of Adamawa state, Umar Fintiri caught many people unaware, giving the fact that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had prepared and expended so much for the bye-election.
The sack of the acting governor, it was gathered was as a result of political calculation and manoeuvring from the movers, shakers and controllers of PDP in Abuja, who saw the misadventure of allowing Fintiri to fly the flag of the party in the bye-election.
According to a source, the chances of Fintiri winning the election were very slim. Not only that, the acting governor was from the minority in the state and the Fulani faction in the state was not on his side following the alleged statement credited to him that he has “broken the calabash of the Fulani,” a statement, which angered the Fulanis and their sympathisers, who were ready to vote their own from the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was also gathered that the presidency had sent three independent assessment committees to the state to assess the chances of the party in the bye-election and the three committees came with the same result that the party would not be able to win the state because Fintiri was not a popular candidate.
The party might have sensed this aberration from the beginning because after the sale of nomination and expression of interest forms, for the Adamawa governorship bye-election, a screening committee led by former deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu was setup; the committee screened all the aspirants except Fintiri. It was appeal panel led by Senator James Manager, that later cleared him.
Mantu had told newsmen after the screening that his Committee premised its decision to disqualify Fintiri on the Nigerian Constitution which forbids him from participating in the contest, because he was expected by his position as the Acting Governor to midwife the process that would lead to the emergence of a new governor and not being a participant.
Mantu further declared that Section 119, subsection 2 of the Nigeria Constitution expects the acting governor to be in office for a maximum of 90 days, supervise the conduct of the election, and not to be a participant.
Section 191 (1) of the Constitution reads:
“The Deputy Governor of a State shall hold the office of Governor of the State, if the office of Governor becomes vacant by reason of death, resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or removal of the governor from office for any other reason in accordance with section 188 or 189 of this constitution.
“(2) Where any vacancy occurs in the circumstances mentioned in subsection (1) of this section during a period when the office of Deputy Governor of the State is also vacant, the Speaker of the House of Assembly of the State shall hold the office of Governor of the State for a period of not more than three months, during which there shall be an election of a new Governor of the State who shall hold office for the unexpired term of office of the last holder of the office.”
Reacting to the disqualification, Fintiri in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Solomon Kumangar had said the Committee has no legal and constitutional grounds to disqualify him. The statement reads, “The so called disqualification from the race as widely touted by the Chairman of the committee (Senator Mantu) lacks legal locus standi. There was no ground under the statutes of the party to take such an arbitrary decision.”
For the party not to forfeit the state, it has to come up with a game plan that cannot be faulted, hence the court judgment that brought the former deputy governor, James Ngilari, who resigned his appointment when the heat was on to impeach the former Governor, Murtala Nyako.
Justice Ademola Adeniyi of Federal High Court, Abuja, had few weeks ago ordered that the former deputy governor of Adamawa state, Mr. Ngilari, should be sworn in as the substantive governor of the state. The substantive speaker of the House of Assembly, Alhaji Fintiri, was also mandated to vacate office as the acting governor of the state.
Justice Adeniyi had ruled that the alleged resignation of Ngilari on July 14, 2014 was invalid, null and void as it breached the provisions of sections 306(1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution because it was addressed to the Speaker and acted upon by the House of Assembly.
Ngilari, through his lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, had submitted that by virtue of section 191 (1) of the 1999 Constitution that after the impeachment of Governor Nyako, that he, Ngilari being the next in the line of succession should have been inaugurated as governor.
The former deputy governor further deposed that the assertion that he resigned his position as deputy governor was untenable given the claim by the House of Assembly that he, Ngilari resigned in a letter addressed to the speaker of the House of Assembly.
Ngilari had relied on section 306 (1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), that his resignation from office as deputy governor could only be addressed to the substantive governor at that time who he claimed was Nyako.
Nyako, in his submission to the court had also claimed that he did not accept the purported resignation of Ngilari as deputy governor. With this declaration from the Federal High Court, the bye-election, which was fixed for October 11 was cancelled.
It appears Fintiri is not done yet with the fight to reclaim his mandate. On Wednesday, the 15th of October, the former acting governor had asked the National Judiciary Council (NJC) to investigate Justice Ademola for not realising a copy of the judgment, which sacked him from office to his lawyer. A move political watcher described as ambition overriding common sense.
Even though he has returned as a Speaker, but the story emanating from Adamawa state House of Assembly is not palatable, as it was gathered that majority of the lawmakers have gang-up to impeach him, with the excuse that he renege on their agreement when he became the acting governor. Would Fintiri survive the onslaught?