Move to impeach Nyako thickens as Adamawa lawmakers order arrest of commissioners

The affected commissioners are those of Agriculture, Health, Commerce, and Land and Survey.

The political landscape of Adamawa State became tense on Thursday amidst alleged plans to impeach the state governor, Murtala Nyako, and moves by the House of Assembly to investigate the expenditures of the state government.

In what could be seen as a step towards the impeachment process, the Assembly on Thursday ordered the arrest of four commissioners for their failure to appear before the lawmakers.
On Wednesday, the Assembly directed six commissioners, Secretary to the State Government, and the Accountant General of the state to appear before it over issues bordering on budget implementation.

The Thursday plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Kwamoti Laori (PDP-Numan) directed the state Commissioner of Police to arrest four of the affected commissioners who failed to show up and bring them before the house on Monday by 10 am.

The affected commissioners were that of agriculture, Lucy Ishaku; health, Lilian Stephen; commerce, Ahmed Gorko; and land and survey, Abdulrahman Shuaibu.

The Assembly, which acknowledged receipt of a letter from the Secretary to the State Government, Kobis Thimnu, over his inability to honour the Thursday invitation, asked him to appear unfailingly on
Monday.

The commissioner for Finance, Ibrahim Vokna, his counterpart for Works, Umaru Atiku, and the state Accountant General, Nasir Mohammed, had earlier appeared before the house.

On May 27, the Adamawa State House of Assembly gave Mr. Nyako and his government an ultimatum of three days to pay back the illegal deductions made from workers’ salaries and allowances of May 2014 in the state.

This led to suspicions of an impeachment process against the governor as the Assembly had hitherto appeared complacent in checking the excesses of the executive.

“For instance, some teachers have worked for 22 months without salaries, with some contracts issued and not executed, and so many issues of governance that it was expected that the Assembly would act.

“But it was seemly quiet about these issues and the antecedent of the leadership of the House has always indicated support for Governor Murtala Nyako,” said Garba Musa, a political analyst in Yola, the state capital.