GUSAU — The Department of State
Service, DSS, has detained, in Abuja, Speaker of Zamfara State House of
Assembly, Sanusi Rikiji, his deputy, Muhammad Gumi and other principal officers
of the Assembly allegedly on the order of Governor Abdulaziz Yari over
impeachment move against him. The Voice of America, Hausa Service, reported,
yesterday, that the lawmakers were in detention in Abuja after the governor
accused them of plotting to impeach him. Others arrested include the House
Majority Leader, Isah Abdulmumini, and the Chief Whip, Abdullahi Dansadau.
Trouble was said to have began for the
lawmakers after the Assembly called for a special sitting with Governor Yari to
discuss what it called “the difficult situation the state found itself,”
especially as regards governance of the state and how to find a way out.
However, the lawmakers said the governor misunderstood their mission and
assumed that it was just a ploy to impeach him, hence his decision to order
their arrest and detention.
One of the lawmakers, Umaru Faru, told the VOA
that everyone knew the precarious situation that the state had found itself. He
said: “People accuse the governor of abandoning the state, and they are also
complaining about the handling of the state resources, especially the bailout
funds released specifically to pay workers’ salaries. “The money came but no
one knows what happened to it. As we speak, local government staff, pensioners
have not been paid, in fact, our traditional rulers have not been paid their
five per cent constitutional allocation for several months, civil servants pay
was cut and some of them were even sacked because of dwindling revenue.
However, they were not paid their entitlement even after the bailout came. That
is why we invited them, definitely not for impeachment purposes.” Reports also
said the remaining lawmakers have fled the state and were taking refuge in
Kaduna State for fear of arrest.
Lawmakers accuse Yari of abuse of
office The lawmakers issued a statement late on Tuesday asking President
Muhammadu Buhari to intervene, and accused Yari of abuse of office. The
statement, which was signed by the Chairman, House Committee on Information,
Mannir Gidan Jaja, accused the governor of mismanagement of local government
funds. However, the state Commissioner of Information, Umaru Bukkuyum, denied
that the lawmakers were in detention. He said the lawmakers were “just invited
to Abuja for a meeting on how to find solution to all the problems.”
Impeachable offences But the State House of Assembly, yesterday, listed six
impeachable offences committed by the governor, citing them as reasons for
pushing for his impeachment.
A statement issued in Gusau by the Chairman of
the Assembly’s Committee on Information, Mannir Gidan-Jaja, accused the
governor of misappropriating billions of naira from the state coffers. It
listed the money allegedly misappropriated to include N11 billion bailout fund,
N1 billion agricultural loan released to the state by the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, 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 Murtala Jangebe as chairman of the state Universal Basic Education
Board. It said the assembly had passed a vote of no confidence on Jangebe, after
he was allegedly found to have misappropriated over N1 billion belonging to the
board in 2014. The statement accused the governor of frequent foreign trips
which had had negative impact on the day-to-day running of government, apart
from imposing financial burden on the state. Lawmakers condemn the arrest The
lawmakers condemned the arrest of the Speaker, his Deputy, Majority Whip and
supporting staff of the assembly by the Department of State Services,
describing the arrest as a clear interference with the functions of the
legislature as enshrined in the constitution. The statement urged President
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 statement added.
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