There are indications that the Peoples
Democratic Party has begun moves to lobby the Nasarawa State Chief
Judge, Justice Sulaiman Dikko, with a view to influencing and persuading
him to disband the seven-man impeachment panel set up to probe Governor
Tanko Al-Makura for alleged gross misconduct and abuse of office.
A source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Saturday PUNCH
that the PDP during the week dispatched a two-man lobby team to
influence the Chief Judge to set up a new panel to probe the governor
with promises that he would be elevated to the Appeal Court among other
juicy offers.
But the source said the Chief Judge
rejected the offer, quoting him as saying that his actions were in
tandem with the provisions of the nation’s constitution.
The source said, “Justice Suleiman Dikko
has told the PDP’s emissary that he could not set up another panel
because he instituted the initial panel according to the spirit and
letters of the 1999 Constitution as stipulated in Section 188.
This came on the heels of the call by the
Nasarawa State House of Assembly on Dikko to dissolve the panel on the
grounds that it was made of loyalists of the All Progressives Congress
of which Al-Makura is the leader in the state.
The Chairman of the House Committee on
Information and Security, Baba Ibaku, in a telephone interview with one
of our correspondents in Lafia, during the week, had explained that the
lawmakers resolved to demand for the dissolution of the panel during
their emergency sitting at the Assembly complex at 10am on Monday.
He claimed that the fact that the panel
members held political positions in the state was against the provision
of Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The lawmaker said, “We had an emergency
sitting to deliberate on the seven-man panel that was set up by the
Chief Judge on Friday last week. We asked him to dissolve the
seven-man panel because the members of the panel are APC members that
hold various political positions.”
But with Dikko insisting on maintaining
the seven-man panel, a serious showdown is expected between the CJ and
the anti-Al-Makura lawmakers.
Saturday PUNCH also learnt that
APC chieftains, including Al-Makura met in Abuja on Thursday to further
strategise on how to ensure that the impeachment plot does not consume
the embattled governor like it did to the former Adamawa Governor
Murtala Nyako.
One of the APC chieftains, who asked not to be named, in a text message to Saturday PUNCH, said, “I am in a meeting with Governor Tanko Al-Makura; trying to save his job!”
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly had levelled 16 charges bordering on official misconduct
against Al-Makura. The lawmakers had ordered that the governor should
be served an impeachment notice signed by 20 of its 24 members.
One of the charges raised against Al-Makura was the missing Local Government Joint Account Funds between June 2011 and April 2012 and from January to July 2013.
The lawmakers also alleged that the
governor misappropriated and misapplied funds in the joint account and
Local Government Sure-P Fund. He was also accused of transferring local
government SURE-P fund to a fixed deposit account.
According to the lawmakers, the offences violated Section 162 (7 and 8) of the 1999 Constitution.
The APC, however, slammed the PDP members
of the Nasarawa House of Assembly for demanding the dissolution of the
panel set up by the state CJ to probe the impeachment charges against
Al-Makura, describing the call as unreasonable and unconstitutional.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the demand by the
lawmakers showed they either had a very poor understanding of the
Constitution or they were blinded by their desperation to impeach
Al-Makura.
He said, “Either way, they have boxed
themselves into a tight corner. Holding an illegal sitting in Abuja with
a fake mace is as ridiculous as the demand by the lawmakers for the
dissolution of the panel set up by the Chief Judge.
“Section 188 (5) of the Constitution is
clear: ‘Within seven days of the passing of a motion under the foregoing
provisions of this section, the Chief Judge of the state shall, at the
request of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, appoint a panel of
seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not
being members of any public service, legislative house or political
party, to investigate the allegation as provided in this section’.
“It is important to point out to the
desperate lawmakers that the key words in that section is that the Chief
Judge must appoint persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable
integrity. At this juncture, it is neither the opinion of the Speaker
nor that of the legislators that counts, it is the opinion of the Chief
Judge.
‘’Therefore, neither the Speaker, the lawmakers nor the Chief Judge can dissolve the panel at this stage, and none of them can stop
the impeachment process. Once the Chief Judge has appointed the panel
under section 188 (5), he becomes ‘functus officio’, that is, he has no
further powers on the matter. This is the situation of things at present
and the lawmakers can only await the report of the panel.’’
But the national leadership of the
Peoples Democratic Party had denied its involvement in the plan by the
lawmakers to impeach the governor.
It insisted that the party had never interfered in the impeachment plot.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary,
Chief Olisa Metuh, who stated this in a telephone interview with one of
our correspondents in Abuja, said it would be wrong to link the party at
the national level with the crisis rocking the state.
He said, “The party at the national level is oblivious of what is happening in Nasarawa State. What is happening in Nasarawa State is not known to us and we are not part of it.
“It is therefore wrong to say we are
inducing anyone to impeach the governor. We have no hand in it. However,
we want to tell our members to thread with caution.
“The party at the national level remains focused in projecting our party and making it the joy of all Nigerians.”
Metuh asked the PDP supporters to remain
calm and not to be distracted by any “propaganda that maybe thrown at
them by the opposition.”
A lawyer and social commentator, Jiti
Ogunye, said the House of Assembly could sue the Chief Judge of
Nassarawa State if it was not satisfied with his composition of the
panel set up to probe the governor.
Ogunye said, “The impeachment plot in
Nassarawa State has become very interesting and everyone is aware at
this point that the Chief Judge has exercised his power under Section
180 of the Constitution to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the
allegations bothering on gross misconduct levelled against the governor.
“We are also aware that the House of
Assembly has kicked against the composition of the panel, alleging that
the panel comprises of people who could be biased. Now what we think
should be done at this point is that the CJ should, in the absence of
cogent and verifiable reasons, stand his ground and should ensure that
the panel he constituted do their job.
“Now if the House of Assembly has a
disagreement with the decision of the CJ, they cannot resolve that by
mounting up pressure on the CJ by virtue of being a PDP-dominated House
of Assembly.
Ogunye said if it were true that the PDP was enticing the CJ with favours, it was an unacceptable action in a democratic era.
He added, “This report of the PDP
inducing, if it is true, is not acceptable, it is condemnable and we
urge the CJ of the state to stand firm. Before exercising his power, he
must have weighed the implication. If he is now pressurised to
reconstitute the panel, he would not only be destroying his own
integrity, but the integrity of the judiciary.
Another lawyer and political commentator,
Fred Agbaje, said the interference of the PDP in the decision of the
Chief Judge would lead to a corrupt judicial system.
Agbaje said, “The implication of this, if
it is true, is that it would amount to an alteration of justice. In
other words, it would lead to a frustration of justice by the
manipulative powers that be, and that would lead to a fundamental
deviation from the set objective provided by Section 33 of the 1999
constitution which demands fair hearing.
“Justice must be rooted in confidence and
that confidence is destroyed when the ordinary man on the street feels
that those who are being called upon to carry out justice have been
morally and financially polluted.
“If it is true, it is a bad omen for our
judicial system, which has come a long way. It is one of the best in
Africa, and no one should be allowed to corrupt it.”
PUNCH.
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