Politics
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Despite the swearing-in of Bala Ngilari, former deputy governor, as governor after about three months of court battle, the drama which led to his emergence is not about to end soon as Ahmad Fintri, former acting governor and former Governor Murtala Nyako has promised to continue to fight for the governorship seat
| By Olu Ojewale | Oct. 20, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE political climate in Adamawa State changed dramatically on Wednesday, October 8, following the enthronement of James Bala Ngilari, former deputy governor, as the state governor. Ngilari was sworn-in as governor following the ruling of a federal high court in Abuja, which declared him the rightful person to the seat instead of Ahmadu Fintri, speaker of the state House of Assembly, who was acting as governor. The governorship seat had become vacant following the impeachment and removal of Murtala Nyako on July 15. Before Nyako’s removal, the House had promised to not go ahead with allegations of corrupt practices levelled against Ngilari if he resigned. He agreed and forwarded his resignation letter to Fintiri as speaker of the House. But a federal court in Abuja ruled against the process and ordered that Ngilari be sworn-in as governor.
The fallout of the dramatic situation in the state is that the bye-election scheduled to hold on Saturday, October 11, was cancelled. Based on the development, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, promptly suspended all plans on the election.
Since taking over the reign of the state, Ngilari has been going around to consolidate his power base. He was on Thursday, October 9, at the state secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to cement his relationship with the state executives of the party. In his speech to party’s stakeholders and supporters, the governor expressed gratitude to members of the state House of Assembly for the removal of Nyako from office. He said he saw no fault in Nyako’s removal from office “because the lawmakers were simply doing their legislative function.”
The new governor used the occasion to say there was no discord among the people of the over his emergence as governor. “If anybody is talking about discord, that person is not a Christian or Muslim. What comes my way (being sworn in as governor) is not a surprise as God meant it to be that way. All that happened to me is now history. I pray that those I offended should forgive me and I also forgive those who offended me, therefore we must now work together as a family, l can’t claim to be an island as I need your advices to move the state forward.”
In his reaction, Joel Madaki, chairman of the PDP in the state, said: “When God says yes, no one can say no,” adding that the emergence of Ngilari as governor was an act of God. He said the state PDP must abide by every bit of the Nigerian Constitution as it now confirmed Ngilari as the authentic governor of the state. This is your house; PDP is one party but uses different batons to execute its duties. The PDP leadership is fully on ground for you.”
The emergence of Ngilari is suspected to be an obstacle for Fintri who is supposed to return to his post as speaker of the House. Argument in some quarters is that it would be wrong for the same constituency to produce both the state governor and speaker at the same time.
But some members of the House have expressed their willingness to have Fintri back as their leaders. Kwamoti La’Ore, who acted as speaker while Fintri was acting governor dismissed speculation of a possible power tussle between him and the returning speaker. La’Ore, in an interview, said that he would relinquish power to Fintiri whenever he decided to return to the assembly. “He is our speaker and he will come back as the speaker. As acting governor, he performed very well in the short period and we are happy with him. He will come and resume as the speaker any day,” he said.
Even then, Fintri has promised to challenge his removal in court. Besides, Fintri had clinched the PDP ticket to contest the bye-election which would have held on Saturday, October 11, if the court had not ruled in favour of Ngilari.
Nyako is not sitting on his oars either. He too has promised to regain his seat as governor of Adamawa State through a judicial process. Reacting to Ngilari’s victory, Nyako expressed satisfaction with the judgement, saying it was a clear indication that the entire episode leading to his removal and forced resignation of Ngilari were a farce. Nyako, who worked with Ngilari to claim his victory, pointed out that the victory was a first step in the judicial process of correcting the wrongs carried out by the Adamawa State House of Assembly against him and his deputy. “We are confident that the Nigerian judiciary will further confirm the injustices associated with the purported removal of Governor Murtala Nyako which was done in a manner akin to a civilian coup d’état,” Sajoh said in the statement issued on behalf of Nyako.
In his judgement, Justice Adenji Ademola observed that the purported resignation letter upon which Ngilari was ousted from office, was written at a time when Nyako still held sway as governor, stressing that the letter ought to have gone through Nyako, instead of the speaker or the State Assembly.
The court held that the failure of the letter to pass through the proper constitutional channel rendered it invalid, null and void. Specifically, the court, declared that by the combined provisions of Section 306 (1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), “the plaintiff , as deputy governor of Adamawa State, did not resign his office by addressing a letter of resignation dated 15th July, 2014, to the first defendant (speaker, Adamawa State House of Assembly).”
The court held that the purported resignation of Ngilari did not take effect when the said letter of resignation was received by the speaker on July 15. Ademola said he took judicial notice of the fact that Nyako, in an affidavit of fact he deposed before the court through Ahmed Sajoh, his chief press secretary, categorically stated that the former deputy governor did not tender any resignation letter to him, a fact it said was also corroborated by Ngilari himself.
The court held that Fintiri, having stayed in office for almost three months, ought to have furnished it with any document showing that Nyako saw and acknowledged Ngilari’s resignation. “In view of the foregoing, it is the opinion of this court that all the documents purportedly indicating that the plaintiff tendered his resignation letter are of doubtful origin, full of inconsistencies and are hereby discountenanced”, the judge added.
Ngilari, through Festus Keyamo, his counsel, had submitted that by virtue of section 191 (1) of the 1999 Constitution that after the impeachment of Nyako, that he, being the next in the line of succession, should have been inaugurated as governor. He further deposed that the assertion that he resigned his position as deputy governor was untenable given the claim by the House of Assembly that he, Ngilari resigned in a letter addressed to the speaker of the House of Assembly. Ngilari quoted section 306 (1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), that his resignation from office as deputy governor could only be addressed to Nyako as the substantive governor at that time.
With Fintri promising to challenge verdict in court and Nyako’s suit still being heard in another court, it is evident that the political drama in Adamawa is not about to end anytime soon.
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