Keyamo: Ngilari still deputy gov. of Adamawa

Mr. Bala Ngilari, the former deputy governor of Adamawa state who resigned his appointment last week, ought to be the acting governor of the state — rather than former speaker of the state assembly, Ahmadu Fitirin.

According to human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo, this is not only the ideal consequence of former governor Murtala Nyako’s impeachment had the constitution been painstakingly followed, it will also save the country from the impeding waste of public funds in orgsanising two governorship elections in Adamawa within six months.

Keyamo analysed these matters in an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday, titled Open Letter: Comedy of Legal Errors In the Adamawa State Crises: The Case of Illegal Ouster of the Deputy Governor.

“I am extremely worried that the nation may be gradually sliding into a state of anomie if Your Excellency turns a blind eye and deaf ears to the various illegalities that have characterised the process employed in the gale of impeachments, or threatened impeachments and/or removal of elected representatives of the people in various parts of this country,” he wrote.

“In some cases, it is political considerations and manoeuvrings that becloud the sense of reasoning of the dramatis personae so much so that the proper constitutional requirements for such processes are thrown overboard.

“Take the case of Adamawa State. The facts as I understand them is that on July 4, 2014, the acting chief judge of the state, Honourable Justice Ambrose Mamadi, at the request of the speaker of the house of assembly (following the adoption of a motion by two-thirds of members of the house to probe allegations of gross misconduct against the governor and deputy governor), set up a seven-man panel to probe the governor and deputy governor of the state.”

He recalled that the panel sat and submitted its report on July 14, 2014, and that from the votes and proceedings of the house on July 15, the speaker announced the receipt of the letter of resignation of Ngilari “addressed to the speaker”, while the house considered and accepted the letter of resignation and declared the office of the deputy governor vacant.

“The House then went on to consider the report of the seven-man panel which indicted the governor of the state, Murtala Nyako, and accepted the report.

“The speaker then declared the governor removed from office and the house directed the acting chief judge or the president of the Customary Court of Appeal of the state to swear in the honourable speaker, Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru as Acting Governor pending fresh elections by INEC.”

He said that from the above-stated facts, as they occurred in sequential order, the following facts are not in dispute:

“The deputy governor, Bar. Bala James Nggilari, addressed his resignation to the speaker, and not the governor of the state. At the foot of the letter, the governor was only copied.

“The then governor, Murtala Nyako, did not receive any such letter from the deputy governor, and this was later confirmed by the governor in a press release on July 16, 2014.

“At the material time the House received and purportedly accepted the supposed resignation of the deputy governor, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd) was still the governor of the state.”

Keyamo further wrote: “Your Excellency, what does the 1999 Constitution (as amended), — which you have sworn to defend and uphold — say about such a resignation?

“Sections 306 (1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution, state as follows:

“Save as otherwise provided in this section, any person who is appointed, elected or otherwise selected to any office established by this Constitution may resign from that office by writing under his hand addressed to the authority or person by whom he was appointed, elected or selected.

“The resignation of any person from any office established by this Constitution shall take effect when the writing signifying the resignation is received by the authority or person to whom it is addressed or by any person authorised by that authority or person to receive it.

“The notice of resignation of the governor and of the deputy governor of a state shall respectively be addressed to the speaker of the house of assembly and the governor of the state.

“From the above sections, it can be clearly seen that the declaration of the seat of the deputy governor of Adamawa state vacant by the house of assembly was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.

“The house has no such powers and can play no such role under the Constitution. The least we should have expected was for the House to impeach the governor (assuming but not conceding that due process was followed in his case) and swear in the deputy governor as the substantive governor. We were never told that he was indicted by the seven-man panel set up by the acting chief judge of the state.

“Consequently, by the provisions of sections 306 (1),(2) & (5) above, the purported resignation of the deputy governor never took place, or at worst, never took effect. It can only take effect, UPON RECEIPT OF IT BY THE GOVERNOR.”

He observed that as it is, the present acting governor can only hold office for three months, pending fresh elections; while even the winner of that election, by the provision of Section 191(2) of the 1999 Constitution, can only complete the unexpired tenure of Murtala Nyako, which means if a governorship election holds in October, another one will have to be conducted within four months, going by INEC’s timetable for the 2015 elections.

This, he described, as a waste of public funds.

“Your Excellency, if proper constitutional procedure is followed, let wise counsel prevail by reverting immediately to the situation where the deputy governor, Bar. Bala James Nggilari, is sworn in as the governor and he nominates a deputy to complete the term of office of Murtala Nyako in the next few months. This will save the state from unnecessary election crises and unnecessary waste of public funds by INEC.

“We cannot imagine a situation where any interested party now heads to court to challenge the removal of Bar. Bala James Nggilari from office and he is reinstated at the last minute when election materials have been printed and personnel already deployed at great expense.“Mr. President, you can save this nation this unnecessary waste of public funds by doing the needful.”