Yola — Indications emerged yesterday that Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, who is at loggerheads with the state lawmakers that were determined to remove him from office, may escape impeachment after all.
The governor, yesterday, did the bidding of the lawmakers by swearing in 36 Development Area administrators as requested by the lawmakers, which he had earlier refused to do leading to the face-off.
Shortly after the governor performed the swearing in, the lawmakers immediately endorsed the governor’s nominee, Mr. P. P. Elisha as Special Adviser on Government Affairs, whose nomination as commissioner was earlier rejected by the lawmakers.
The swearing in of the administrators, believed to be part of the deal struck in Abuja, was conducted shortly after the governor came back from Abuja where he held closed-door meeting with lawmakers led by the Speaker of the House, Ahmadu Fintiri.
Constituents
Meanwhile, some lawmakers who participated in the impeachment move against the governor and his Deputy Bala James Ngillari, are facing the wrath of their constituencies as the constituents have rejected their Ramadan gifts.
The members affected include member representing Girei constituency, Abubakar Umar; Mubi North, Abubakar Jaringol, and Maiha Local Government, Hassan Kaigama.
The constituencies took the measure to protest the involvement of their lawmakers in the plot to impeach Governor Nyako and his deputy.
According to a resident of Mubi town, “that is not what we elected them there to do,” adding that they regretted ever voting Jaringol.
He said their represen-tative never deemed it necessary to consult with the people on whose mandate he went to the assembly.
He said: “It is unfortunate that the member could not even listen to our most cherished traditional leader, his Highness the Emir of Mubi.”
Probe panel
The seven member panel probing Governor Murtala Nyako’s alleged maladministration is expected to return to work today and may raise issues concerning his refusal to honour its invitation.
The panel had pasted the summons on the walls of the Government House in Yola on Wednesday and fixed today as the return hearing date for the governor, who returned to the state yesterday morning but shunned the panel.
The governor had given the indication that he would not appear before the panel, having gone to court to challenge the way and manner the members had violated the laws regarding the process of impeaching him and his deputy, James Ngilari.
The governor is relying on a Supreme Court ruling which provides that he should be personally served the impeachment notice since, in the eyes of the law, substituted service is not deemed as sufficient.
A copy of the summons, which was pasted on the Government House walls in Yola and obtained by Vanguard yesterday has been dismissed by the governor as a non service.
The summons dated July 9 and signed by the Secretary of the Panel, Mr. Binanu Esthon, had ordered the governor to appear before it.