— FG freezes Adamawa govt’s bank accounts
— Soldiers bar Amaechi, Oshiomhole from Ekiti poll
By Ibrahim Abdul’Aziz & Muazu Abari, Yola; Bode Olagoke, Abuja, Patrick Ahanor, Benin City, and Iyalla Adaye, Port Harcourt
The Jonathan Administration appeared to have upped its pressure on state governors in opposition parties yesterday by moving against those of Adamawa, Rivers and Edo.
The federal government’s agents, apparently acting on powers from the top level, froze the bank accounts of the Adamawa state government and blocked Governors Rotimi Amaechi and Adams Oshiomhole of Rivers and Edo states respectively from travelling to Ekiti state in order to help their candidates campaign for tomorrow’s governorship election there.
The closure of the Adamawa state government’s bank accounts with immediate effect followed the impeachment notice served on Governor Murtala Nyako by 19 out of the 25 members of the Adamawa state House of Assembly on Wednesday.
Sources said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) gave the directive to effect the closure of the accounts.
The decision is believed to be aimed at preventing the governor from meeting with some financial commitments by the state government ahead of the plan to impeach him.
Confirming this development to journalists in Yola, the Director of Press and Public Affairs to the Governor, Ahmed Sajoh, accused the Presidency of being desperate to destabilise the Nyako administration and subject the people of Adamawa to untold hardship for selfish political reasons.
“President Jonathan has made it clear that the impeachment plan against Governor Murtala Nyako must sail through and has also mandated security agents to be on the trail of the governor, who will be immediately arrested by the EFCC once he is impeached and he loses his immunity,’’ Sajoh said.
He expressed regret that this decision would affect payment of workers’ salaries in the state amongst other government obligations, “especially now that the month of Ramadan is fast approaching.”
He added that the Adamawa people have suffered enough “in the hands of Jonathan.”
The state Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rev. Phineas Padio, said: “The president is not comfortable with the posture of Nyako who fired a salvo at the federal government for not doing enough to protect the citizens. He also incurred the president’s wrath when he decamped to the All Progressives Congress alongside four other Peoples Democratic Party governors.”
Meanwhile, most members of the state House of Assembly were said to have relocated to Abuja immediately after directing the clerk of the assembly to slam the impeachment notice on Nyako.
Their decision to leave the state, sources said, might not be unconnected with the fear of possible attacks by some hoodlums against the background of growing protest and disenchantment by people in the state.
Some people, who were not happy with the development, had accused the lawmakers of playing the script of “some external forces” geared towards achieving their selfish political ambition come 2015.
When our correspondent visited the residence of one of the lawmakers who signed the impeachment notice, he was reliably told that he had fled to Abuja after the Wednesday meeting.
The lawmaker later told our correspondent that he was indeed in Abuja but insisted that his trip had nothing to do with the impeachment saga.
He said some of his colleagues were in Abuja but that “everybody went there for his individual reason and this has nothing to do with the House as a whole.”
Speaking to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, an aide to one of the lawmakers said they had no reason to flee the state “because most people are behind the lawmakers in their ongoing efforts to impeach the governor.”
He said the lawmakers are in a two-week recess and had the right to travel to any part of the country, including Abuja.
Commenting on this development, the APC’s publicist, Rev. Padio, accused the lawmakers of doing the bidding of their party and some external forces that were bent on destabilising Nyako’s administration ahead of 2015.
Speaking to newsmen in Yola yesterday, he said the lawmakers’ action left no one in doubt, particularly the house Speaker Ahmadu Fintiri’s alleged “blind ambition to become governor of the state”.
Padio said the allegations levelled against the governor were not only laughable but embarrassing.
“There is no way a house will bring something that happened in 2007 during previous legislation as some of its allegations against the governor. It goofed,” he said.
Padio pointed out that the Speaker, who had been nursing a governorship ambition with the hope of using the APC, became angry with the party when Mrs Binta Masi, who hails from the same zone with him, emerged the party’s chairperson, blocking his chances.
He thanked individuals and groups for their support for Nyako and urged them to resist any attempt by selfish individuals to destroy the gains recorded and overheat the polity of the state.
In another development, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr John Abakasanga, has warned politicians to avoid anything that could plunge the state into crisis.
In a press release by the command PPRO, DSP Othman Abubakar, he reiterated the readiness of the police and other security agencies to maintain law and order.
Abakasanga urged the people to go about their normal businesses without fear.
Also, the APC has alleged that three of its governors have been prevented by security agencies apparently acting on “orders from above” from travelling to Ado-Ekiti for the party’s final campaign on Friday for the state governorship election.
In a statement issued yesterday in Ado-Ekiti by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Governors Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and Rabi’u Musa Kwankwanso of Kano were prevented from making the trip.
It said the helicopter that was to ferry Oshiomhole from Benin City to Ado-Ekiti was prevented from taking off from the Benin Airport, while the plane that was flying Kwankwanso to Akure was denied permission to land.
According to the APC, while the plane carrying Amaechi actually landed in Akure, his convoy was stopped at the border between Ondo and Ekiti states and ordered to turn back because he would not be allowed to reach Ado-Ekiti.
The party said while Amaechi’s convoy was being detained in order to force him to turn back, the convoys of the Ministers of Defence and Police Affairs were allowed to pass.
It said: “’These acts are illegal and definitely not in line with the Electoral Act, which stipulates that campaign for the election will only end at midnight on Friday.
“It also represents a manipulation of the electoral process when all the candidates will not be allowed a level-playing field to campaign for the election.
“There is no clearer manifestation of the federal government’s allergy to free, fair, transparent and violence-free election than this.”
The APC condemned the abuse of national institutions and the abuse of power “which these actions represent, especially because only the federal government has control over these institutions, including the security agencies that have now become a tool in the hands of an increasingly desperate government of the day.
“Several months ago, we warned that Nigeria, under the watch of President Goodluck Jonathan, was sliding into fascism and we were pilloried in certain quarters for daring to make such a statement.Today, we have sadly been vindicated.
“Not even in the worst days of the abhorrent military dictatorship were things done this brazenly, with citizens being denied their fundamental rights of free movement, free assembly and free expression, all because of the desperation by the ruling party to win elections at all cost.
“We, therefore, call on all good people of Nigeria and indeed all the country’s international friends to speak out against what is happening before things get out of hand.
“If democratically-elected governors could be so shabbily treated despite the high office they occupy,
what will happen to ordinary Nigerians in the hands of an increasingly fascist government?”
Our correspondent in Benin City reports that operatives of 81 Air Maritime Group in the Edo state capital actually stopped Governor Oshiomhole’s chartered helicopter at the Benin Airport from flying on the premise of an “order from above.”
This is the second time in one year that the erstwhile labour leader’s flight would be aborted by the federal government agents.
His chopper was recalled mid-air by Benin Airport authorities on June 7, 2013.
The Benin Airport Manager, Mr. Sunday Ayodele, and the Airspace Manager, Mr Ibekwe, said they were unaware of the directive.
Oshiomhole was billed to fly in the private helicopter with registration number 5NBQ8 to attend a mass rally to round off the re-election campaigns of his Ekiti state counterpart, Dr. Koyode Fayemi, but was however stopped by the Air Force personnel.
The development left the governor stranded for over two hours at the airport as all efforts to persuade the operatives failed to yield any positive result.
Commander of the 81 Air Maritime Group, Air Commodore Soji Awomodu, reportedly told the governor that he received “a call from above” that no private jet or helicopter should be allowed to fly out of the state capital to either Akure or Ekiti.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Prince Kassim Afegbua, confirmed the development, describing it as “strange.”
The state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said this incident vindicated its alarm over the “wastefulness” of Oshiomhole on chartered helicopters, alleging that the governor spends over N30 million on air travel monthly.
The party, in a statement issued by its state chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, said: “We receive the news with great delight, and we have challenged him to submit his international passport so that the people can see, but he declined.”
Confirming reports that Governor Amaechi of Rivers was barred by soldiers from travelling to Ekiti by road yesterday, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, said: “Governor Amaechi was ambushed and refused entry into Ekiti by military personnel acting on orders from above.
“He made to turn back and return to Akure where his chartered aircraft was parked but was chased and rounded by armed soldiers and security personnel in Odudu, Ondo state. According to the captain who led the operation, he had orders not to allow the governor entry or exit.”
Briefing selected newsmen in her office, the commissioner said the government was worried as the latest incident was coming on the heels of a plot by six PDP lawmakers yesterday morning to carry out a plan of impeaching the governor.
Semenitari reiterated that in preparation of the comedy the state PDP chapter accused Amaechi of importing terrorists into the state and the region.
She allegedly pointed out that the accusation was jeopardizing the police investigation of the 486 travelers who were intercepted in Aba, Abia state.
She appealed to members of the APC in the state to remain calm in the face of provocations.
Effort to speak with the State PDP Chairman, Felix Obuah, proved abortive as his phone rang and he did not answer.
Our correspondent learnt, however, that Governor Amaechi was later allowed by the soldiers to return to Akure but not to Ekiti.