Nasarawa lawmakers move to impeach governor

The speaker of the Nasarawa State house of assembly, Alhaji Musa Ahmed, has directed the clerk of the house to serve Governor Tanko Al-Makura with notice of impeachment for “gross misconduct”.

This followed a motion of public interest raised by the deputy majority leader, Mr Yahaya Usman (PDP-Umaisha/Ugya), during plenary in Lafia on Monday.

Usman presented a document signed by 20 of the 24 members of the assembly which contained the allegations of gross misconduct against the governor.

He said: “I am on my feet to raise a motion under matters of public interest and I will go directly to read the document I have in my hand.

“This is a notice of impeachment for Gov. Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state for gross misconduct.

“For violating the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, today being the 14th day of July, 2014, the 20 members of the 24 members of this house unanimously endorsed to serve Gov. Tanko Al-Makura notice of impeachment,” he said.

The chief whip Mr Mohammed Okpede (PDP-Doma North) seconded the motion.

The speaker, who officially received the impeachment notice, said the house had complied with the provision of the constitution to serve the governor with impeachment notice.

He directed the clerk to immediately serve the notice on Al-Makura on July 14.

He said:  “In the event His Excellency, Gov.Tanko Al-Makura, could not be reached for service, the clerk is directed to serve him with the impeachment notice through the media.”

The governor’s phone lines, as well as those of his aides, were unreachable at the time of this report.

Al-Makura, the only governor elected on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011, is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the merger of opposition parties.

Like in Adamawa State, the deputy governor, Hon. Dameshi Luka, is not in the APC, having left the party for PDP in March.

The 24-member assembly is dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has 20 members against APC’s four.

All the PDP lawmakers signed the notice.

A lawmaker, who spoke with TheCable on phone, said there was no going back on their resolve to impeach the governor.

“We’ve run out of patience with him,” he said, while denying the influence of Abuja-based politicians.

It was initially thought that Al-Makura was behind the reports alleging an impeachment plot against him in order to pre-empt the PDP.

The governor has been faced with a myriad of crises, notably the Ombatse cult affair that led to the deaths of scores of security agents who were ambushed during an operation.