LAFIA – The seven-man investigative panel set up by the Nasarawa State Chief Judge, Justice Umaru Dikko, last Friday to investigate allegations of gross misconduct against embattled Governor Tanko Al-Makura will begin sitting today.
The probe panel become imperative following the request by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Ahmed Musa, in accordance with Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Justice Dikko, while inaugurating the panel, urged them to carry out their duties with all sense of fairness in accordance with provisions of the Constitution.
Embattled Governor Al-Makura is being accused of a 16-count charge, bordering on abuse of public office by the state lawmakers, who are bent on ensuring his exit from the Shendam Road Government House.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dominates the House with 20 members against four All Progressive Congress (APC) members, making them irrelevant during voting.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, House Committee on Information and Security, Baba Ibaku, has declared that the House is on course to see that the governor defends the allegations levelled against him.
Ibaku is of the view that the pockets of organised protest by the governor’s men were a clear indication of acceptance of guilt.
The lawmaker insisted that the only way Governor Al-Makura will clear the air is to appeal to the probe panel and explain to the people of Nasarawa State and the entire world his own side of the story.
However, we gathered that heads of agencies mentioned in the 16-count charge have been attending meetings on a daily basis with the cream of legal luminaries that Al-Makura hired to defend him. The meetings where the legal luminaries get their briefs hold in Government House, Lafia.
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Affairs, who is the only person allowed to state the governor’s position on the impeachment saga affirmed that his principal has engaged the service of some lawyers.[eap_ad_2]
“My governor is a well respected man who has respect for the rule of law and he has engaged the services of two SANs and a professor of law as well as other senior lawyers to hold brief for him in accordance with the law as soon as the probe panel will commence,” Kwarra declared.
When asked the names of the SANs and which of them is the led counsel, he responded: “I really don’t know the name but I address them as SAN, simple.”
On his part the legal adviser to the Ombaste cultural group, Zachariah Allumaga observed that Governor Al-Makura was only on a “double wasteful mission of the state resources.”
He added that “the governor can talk very well. So, why is he engaging people left and right in another jamboree, instead of resigning honourably?”
He maintained that Al-Makura has in the past one week been making his last public speeches as the chief security officer of the state.
“The governor has never run the state with a sense of fairness. So, we are never in doubt that the allegations will be proved in favour of the people of the state, which he has impoverished since assumption as governor,” Allumaga said. (Daily Newswatch)[eap_ad_3]