Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, on Thursday, claimed that there is no plan by members of the state House of Assembly to impeach him, as widely reported.
Yari spoke with State House correspondents shortly after presiding over a meeting of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum inside the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The governor claimed that the leadership of the Assembly had even denied such alleged move to remove him from office.
He claimed that although anyone can be hurt under democracy, the state is at peace.
“Even the Assembly says there is no such (impeachment) move and that there was a misunderstanding. But you know it is democracy we are practising and everyone can be hurt. We are peaceful,” he said.
There are media reports that operatives of the Department of State Services have arrested the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Sanusi Rikiji, in connection with an alleged plot to impeach the governor.
Rikiji and other principal officers of the Assembly, who were picked up on Tuesday in Gusau, the state capital, are said to be currently detained in Abuja.
Those said to be detained along with him are the Deputy Speaker, Muhammad Gumi; the Majority Leader, Isah Abdulmumini; and the Chief Whip, Abdullahi Dansadau.
The House of Assembly, however, on Wednesday listed six impeachable offences against Yari, in an apparent move to begin an impeachment process against the governor.
A statement issued in Gusau by the Chairman, Zamfara State House of Assembly’s Committee on Information, Alhaji Mannir Gidan-Jaja, accused the governor of misappropriating billions of naira from the state coffers.
It listed the money allegedly misappropriated to include N11bn bailout, N1bn agricultural loan released to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria and “corrupt abuse of local government funds.”
The Assembly also accused the governor of failing to remit funds deducted for pensions and gratuities to pension fund administrators, as provided by law.
According to the statement, the governor had also ignored a resolution of the Assembly not to appoint Alhaji Murtala Jangebe as the Chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board.
It said that the Assembly had passed a vote of no confidence on Jangebe, after he was allegedly found to have misappropriated over N1bn belonging to the board in 2014.
The statement accused the governor of frequent foreign trips which the lawmakers argued had negative impact on the day-to-day running of the government, apart from imposing financial burden on the state.
The lawmakers condemned the arrest of the Speaker, his deputy, Majority Whip and supporting staff of the assembly by the DSS.
The lawmakers described the arrest as a clear interference in the functions of the legislature.
The statement urged President Muhammadu Buhari to caution the DSS against further interference in the matter.
“We are also demanding the unconditional release of our principal officers, who are currently under detention with the DSS in Abuja,’’ the lawmakers said. – Punch.
