Members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly have said there is no going back on the effort to remove the state governor, Tanko Al-Makura.
The state legislators said they would not enter into any negotiation over the impeachment notice already served on the governor and vowed to embark on a protest in Lafia, the state capital, on Monday (today) against interference by traditional rulers in the state.
Traditional rulers in Lafia, including the Emir of Lafia, Mustapa Agwai, had on Thursday promised to initiate a peace move between the governor and the lawmakers.
But the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Security, Baba Ibaku, representing Udege/Loko Constituency, told newsmen that the impeachment procedure was still on course.
“We have started this. We cannot go back, no matter the involvement of the chairman of traditional rulers,” Ibaku said and denied insinuations that the state legislators had fled from the state capital.
“We are on recess, so we can choose to stay anywhere we feel like. Even if we are not on recess, there is no law that says we must stay in Lafia and the fact is that there is the need for us to go to the chamber. We will go to the chamber and come back,” he said.
Ibaku said any intervention by the traditional rulers would prevent the lawmakers from carrying out their constitutional duty, stressing that what happened in Adamawa State would happen in Nasarawa if Al-Makura failed to respond to the impeachment notice served on him within the time frame given.
Also reacting to the allegation against the lawmakers that they had received N200m each as bribe to compromise their stand, another member of the Nasarawa House, Mohammed Okpede (Doma South) said, “Up to this moment that I am talking to you, I have not seen the Emir of Lafia, Isah Mustapha Agwai, and none of our members have seen the emir.”
Okpede said, “We are counting the days. We started about five days ago and when the time reaches, we will respond appropriately.
“We have the number of days stipulated in the constitution and as soon as the time reaches, we will just go back to the chamber and direct the chief judge of the state to set up a committee of inquiry for the governor to appear. We are on recess. Everybody has the liberty to go to anywhere he feels like.”
Commenting on the proposed visit of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress—Maj.- Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), Bola Tinubu, and ex-Vice- President Atiku Abubakar to Lafia on Monday (today), Okpede said, “That is their problem. They are troublemakers and if peradventure they come, we are not going to join issue with them.”
He said the APC leaders would not hinder the lawmakers from performing their constitutional duty.
The state chairman of APC, Philip Shekwo, declined to comment, saying the traditional rulers in the state had issued a communiqué on the problem after their meeting
Asked what would be the next step by the party if the lawmakers disregarded the appeal by the traditional rulers, the APC chairman said the party would know what to do when matters reached that stage.
An APC lawmaker, Bala Adam, said that members of the party in the House were optimistic that the issue would be amicably resolved.
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