Posted by By MARIAM ALESHINLOYE-AGBOOLA, Jos on
Reprieve has come the way of embattled Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State as 10 of the 24-member state House of Assembly backed out from the fresh plot to impeach him.
• 10 lawmakers back out of fresh plot to impeach Dariye
Reprieve has come the way of embattled Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State as 10 of the 24-member state House of Assembly backed out from the fresh plot to impeach him.
The governor, who just regained his seat after a Supreme Court judgement nullified his five-month removal was served a fresh notice of impeachment by 14 of the lawmakers, believed to be doing the bidding of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dariye's former party.
But the 10 legislators dissociated themselves from the move just as the Plateau State branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) rejected the re-instatement of retired Justice Sambo Atsi as the state's Chief Judge.
Addressing journalists at the House of Assembly premises in Jos, the group of 10 led by Muhammed Nafiz representing Jos North, said the impeachment was an agenda of the PDP which was bent on impeaching the governor who has barely one month to spend in office.
Nazif, who briefed the journalists on behalf of the other nine, who were all present at the press conference, said the 14 members were acting in compliance with the directive from the state chapter of the PDP which asked them to conclude Dariye's removal within one week, on the errorneous belief that it was constitutionally right to do so.
He accused the PDP members in the House of not serving the other members the so-called notice of impeachment as required by Section 188 (2) of the 1999 Constitution and that they had conveniently glossed over the fact that the Appeal Court expressly made an order setting aside all the steps taken by the 2nd to 7th defendants in relation to issuance of Notice of Allegation of misconduct, passage of motion to investigate same, and the directive to the acting Chief Judge of the state, because the steps breached the provision of section 36(1) and 188 of the Constitution.
He equally stated that the court has made express order nullifying the interim or any other reports or findings to the seven man panel of investigation upon which the new impeachment saga was based.
While acknowledging that the entire decision of the Appeal Court was upheld by the Supreme Court, Alhaji Nazif said this was contrary to the contrived reasoning of some opportunists who thought the Supreme Court did nullify the impeachment purely on the ground that it was perpetrated by less than two-third of the members of the Assembly.
He reiterated that the impeachment was not the best interest of the people of Plateau State who have mandated them to legislate for peace, order and good government of the state, adding that: "We will never be part of the plan to plunge our dear state into a needless crisis, particularly at a time when all hands should be on deck to ensure peaceful hand-over of the mantle of leadership to new government on 29th May 2007.
He said they unequivocally and irrevocably dissociated themselves from the ill-advised process against Dariye, stressing that any impeachment document which bore their names or signatures was an outright forgery and the law enforcement agents are accordingly advised to take decisive action against such criminality.
Meanwhile, deputy governor, Chief Michael Botmang yesterday broke his silence over his absence from office since the resumption of Governor Dariye, saying he has not gone into hiding as alleged, but only kept away to avoid being manhandled by the thugs which Dariye surrounded himself with.
The deputy governor also denied allegations that he looted the treasury saying that what was received was N920 million which was used to finance projects in the state like the road rehabilitation, among others.
He said it was rather the loans owed by Dariye which made Intercontinental Bank to seize last month's allocation to the state resulting in the inability of government to pay workers' salaries and allowances.
He explained that he did not hand over formally to his boss because Dariye did not hand over any document to him before going underground and he in turn was not under any obligation to hand over anything to him.
Botmang who was livid with anger over the allegations while speaking to journalists in his Dadin Kowa residence said he had been staying in his house since Dariye resumed.