Impeachment of a governor or president is a constutional and civilized way to send a powerful message to sitting governors and presidents who violate their oath of office or engage in gross misconduct while in office. Impeachment is a good way for democracy to cleanse itself. However, more harm than good will be done to the society at large when impeachment is used as a weapon to gain political power by any political party.
Former governor of Adamawa state , Governor Murtala Nyako and his deputy, Bala Ngilari may be guilty as charged by Adamawa state of Assembly, but the way the impeachment was handled sets up a dangerous precedent for Nigeria. Governor Nyako was elected under the banner of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) in April 2007. In February 2008, the Election Petition Tribunal nullified his election alleging electoral malpractices. A fresh election was ran and governor Nyako won in a landslide by winning all the 21 Local Government Area on April 29, 2008 under the banner of the People’s Democratic party.
Governor Nyako’s trouble actually started before his defection to the opposition party, All Progressive Congress (APC). He had a long political battle with the then PDP national chairman, Bamanga Tukur which he said was the reason for his eventual defection. PDP never forgave governor Nyako for the defection which they considered as treachery. Unfortunately for the former governor Nyako, majority of Adamawa state House of Assembly members are PDP. I was surprise that he did not anticipate that impeachment might be one possible outcome of his action.
Governor Nyako further infuriated PDP members and the president by making the following statements at the Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, this year, when he visited with other northern governors, “he placed the blame for the Boko Haram insurgency on the Jonathan presidency and then followed this up with a detailed letter to the forum of the Northern governors in which he accused the Jonathan-led government of genocide against the north” The above statement further alienated PDP House of Assembly members.
Internal politics of Adamawa state probably had more to do with his impeachment than governor Nyako’s unfounded and unsubstantiated accusation against president Jonathan. President Jonathan to date does not have a history of interfering in elections or colluding with the electoral body to truncate the will of the electorate. His predecessor, late president Yar’Dua was same way. The negative consequence of this impeachment for Nigeria is the precedence it will set for Nigeria when the dust settles.
The problem with this impeachment is that it was filed against a sitting governor and his deputy at the same time, so both of them will leave office at the same time which will pave the way for the PDP speaker who controls majority seats in the House of Assembly to be sworn in as interim governor who will supervise the general election that will be held in 3 months as mandated by the constitution.
This impeachment would have seemed credible if it was carried out against the governor alone so his deputy will be sworn in as interim governor who will oversee the general election in 3 months. The manner in which this impeachment was carried points to a naked power grab rather than punishment of a governor involved in gross misconduct. Former deputy governor Bala Ngilari was in effect pushed to resigned so it will seem like there is no deputy governor to take over after the the governor’s impeachment.
The bad precedence set by this impeachment for Nigeria is that if a party controls the House of Assembly or National Assembly, a president and his or her vice or governor and his or her deputy from a minority party could be unjustifiably impeached on a trumped up charges. Nigeria will likely witness another cycle of impeachment galore for various political office holders not to punish the office holder for gross misconduct, but will be primarily used as a weapon to silence internal and external party opposition. Nasarawa state House of Assembly, which has a similar make-up as Adamawa House of Assembly did not waste time in following the Adamawa state example, by immediately commencing impeachment proceeding of yet another APC governor, Umaru Tanko Al- Makura. This terrible precedent if allowed to stand by the court will sow seed of instability in the Nigeria democratic development. They should be no shortcut to attainment of political power. This article is not about the guilt or innocence of former governor, Murtala Nyako and his deputy, Bala Ngilari. The will of Nigerians expressed at the ballot box in any part of the country must be respected.