Adamawa Legislators Angry With Ogbulafor

By PETER-CLAVER EGBOCHUE

The cloud of uncertainty and anxiety around Adamawa Government House, which was generated by the notice of impeachment served on the Governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd) by 20 out of the 25 members of the Adamawa House of Assembly have blown over following the intervention of the leadership of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) recently.
The National Chairman, of the party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor had requested President  Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to intervene after all entreaties to dissuade members of the House of Assembly to sheathe their swords failed.
Consequently, President Yar'Adua, reportedly convened a meeting last week with Governor Nyako, the Speaker, Mr. James Barka, the National Chairman of the party, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor and the National Secretary, Baraje. Others present at the meeting were, the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Haruna Mohammed and other members of the National Working Committee. At the end of the meeting, it was apparent that all frayed nerves had been relaxed.
The PDP, in its characteristic manner, had described the monumental allegations of gross misconduct, financial recklessness and constitutional breaches upon which the notice of impeachment was based as a family affair which should be handled as such.
 Ogbulafor, while addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting, remarked that nobody was above mistakes, adding that having examined the issues at stake, the leadership of the party apportioned blames accordingly to the parties where they erred and assured that the grouse had been resolved.
“It is the party that intervened and we have solved the problem. It is a family and it's been taken care of. We only want to brief the President what we did and the president is happy with the party. The governor and the speaker are one and same. Everything is over and are happy”, he said.
Ogbulafor said the allegations against the governor were shallow and arose from a mere misunderstanding, which he described as normal in politics. He added, however, “politics is not like religion.”
The PDP National Chairman further explained, that in resolving the crisis, “we listened to both parties and where there is need to apportion blames we did and both of them saw where they made mistakes. Nobody is above mistakes.”
The Speaker, who reports say was not happy with the outcome of the meeting, however promised to meet with his members over the outcome before taking a position “We have had a meeting and the chairman has said it all and I will meet with my members”, he said.
On whether he saw the hands of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the plot to impeach him, the distraught Nyako at the end of the meeting said, “do you mean physical hands or what? “before he left the venue of the meeting.
Governor Nyako, who earlier spoke through his Principal Special Assistant on Media, Alhaji Aminu Iya had said that the House members were angry with him because he did not allow them to undemocratically select their favourite candidates for the just conduced PDP chairmanship primaries.
Meanwhile, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had urged the new chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences (ICPC) to thoroughly investigate the allegations levelled against Governor Nyako.
He described the allegations as too grievous to be ignored. His words “So my position on the impeachment notice is that the charges it contains are so serious and distressing as to warrant the involvement of all the anti-corruption agencies and commissions in the country.
“The enormity of the charges should be a big challenge to the new leadership of the EFCC and they should pursue it with all seriousness in a bid to assist the government in its war against corruption.”
Adamawa House of Assembly had on Monday,  June 23 2008 served a notice of impeachment on Governor Nyako over alleged graft and abuse of office.
According to the House, Nyako is guilty of gross misconduct in the performance of the functions as Governor of Adamawa State by committing many unconstitutional acts thereby desecrating the office of the state governor.
The legislators alleged that the Governor procured a 50 million dollars loan with a payment period of 34 months at N248 million net per month which would total N8,432,000.00, thereby subjecting the state to unnecessary done without the knowledge of the Assembly.
They further alleged that the loan facility would benefit a company known as Messrs SNECOU group of companies Ltd. With a share capital of only N1 million and which does not have the capacity to carry out such transaction involving large sums of money.
It was also alleged that the Governor took another loan of N5 billion from a bank with a repayment rate of N457,211,021.49 without the authorisation of the Adamawa House of Assembly contrary to section 120(2) (3) and (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It was also gathered that Nyako froze the accounts of the Mayobelwa Local Government. His illegal deductions from states joint account with local governments, making the 21 local governments to end up with bank overdraft at the end of every month to pray workers’ salaries and also non-remittance of 19 per cent as prescribed by law in contravention of section 168 (6) and (8) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Governor was also accused of awarding fraudulent and inflated contracts and spending of public funds not covered by the budget. They cited the payment of N45 million as contribution to a non-existent body and the payment of N182.375 million of shipping and handling of 15 hospital equipment and payment of a fictitious N25 million to Almairi.
They also queried the payment of N19,478,055 million to the Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Wurro Chekke to travel to South Africa for international conference and the purchase of Hon. Speaker’s vehicle at the cost of N35,209,125.00 .
The Assembly also alleged that despite the statement credited to Governor Nyako to the effect that his personal house was better than the Government House of Adamawa State, he approved the sum of N141 million to a furniture and interior company based in Kano for furnishing of his house, yet no furniture was supplied.
The illegal expenditure of N22.550 million for the visitation of the wife of President Umaru Yar'Adua, Turai who eventually did not visit Adamawa, but was represented by the wife of the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Whereas only the sum of N12.7 million was actually spent when Mrs Jonathan visited the state.
Analysts argue that the monumental allegations of fraud and misappropriation of public funds levelled against Governor Nyako touches on the welfare of the people of Adamawa State who by no means are all PDP members and therefore, the matter could not be said to be a family matter.
Mr. Paul Chijoke, a Lagos based legal practitioner disagrees with the position of Ogbulafor who described the allegations against Nyako as a family matter, insisting that such allegations were too enormous to be ignored and treated like a mere inconsequential issues that have no constitutional implications.
His word, “the allegation here are not mere fabrications. They are too enormous to be ignored or disregarded. They border on constitutional breaches as well as on the welfare of  Adamawa people whose funds are allegedly being misappropriated by the Governor. It is not a family matter. The EFCC should wade into the matter.”
Chijioke expressed fears that Nigeria is gradually but progressively tilting towards a one party state, adding that with the development in Adamawa State a vibrant opposition parties should take up the matter with the PDP.