Al-Makura: A governor’s unending troubles

Despite his acquittal by a probe panel, it is not yet uhuru for embattled  Nassarawa  State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura. NDUBUISI ORJI writes On May 29, 2011 when Alhaji Umaru Tanko Al-Makura was sworn in as the third civilian governor of Nasarawa State, everyone knew that it was going to be a bumpy ride throughout the duration his tenure. Even the governor was not under any illusion that it he was going to have a trouble-free tenure. Continue...

A former PDP stalwart, Al-Makura had won the governorship of the state on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), after failing to secure the PDP nomination in the state. Unfortunately, the CPC could only win four of the 24 seats in the Nasarawa House of Assembly.

A governor’s many troubles

Al-Mukura’s first face-off with the lawmakers on assumption of office was over the appointment of administrators for the local government areas. His predecessor had sought to upgrade the office of head of personnel management in the councils to sole administrators, but the house refused. After the intervention of some stakeholders in the state,  it was resolved that the governor should appoint 60 per cent of the local government administrators while the assembly produce the remaining 40 per cent.

Not long after, the governor submitted a list of 18 commissioner-nominees to the assembly for clearance and sought the  approval of the house to appoint 20 special advisers. The House reduced the commissioners to 15, out of which the legislators screened only 12. It took the intervention of  some concerned elders, before they cleared the remaining 3 commissioners.

When Al-Mukura sacked 28 permanent secetaries in the state in one fell swoop, the assembly told him pointedly that he did not have such powers. The opposition of the house reportedly emboldened the sacked permanent secretaries to challenge their sack in court.

At the height of  his battles with the assembly in 2012, the then national publicity secretary of the defunct CPC, Mr Rotimi Fashakin raised the alarm  that the House was plotting  to impeach the former governor.

Few months later, the assembly made what could be tagged its first impeachment attempt against the governor. However, they could not see it through.

The recent plot to impeach Al-Makura came on the heels of the consideration of the report of an ad-hoc committee set up by the state assembly to look into the reports of  four house committees that investigated the activities of the state government  from May 29, 2011 to November 2013. The committee set up on November 3, 2013 considered the reports of the standing committees on Public Accounts, Health, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Commerce, Industry and Capital Markets.

After considering the report of the ad-hoc-committee, the assembly led by Hon Ahmed Mohammed as speaker on  July 14, 2014  commenced impeachment proceedings against the governor over alleged gross misconduct. The impeachment notice signed by all the 20 PDP legislators raised 16 impeachment offences against Al-Makura. The offences bothered on alleged gross mis-conduct, misappropriation of funds and abuse of office.

The commencement of impeachment proceedings against Al-Makura generated varied reactions from the populace. While the governor’s supporters kicked, his opponents applauded the lawmakers.

On his part, the former governor ran from pillar to post to  save his job. As part of efforts to save his job, he reportedly met with President Goodluck Jonathan. The traditional rulers in the state   also made spirited efforts to dissuade the lawmakers from the Al-Mukara-must-go project. But the legislators remained adamant.

Eventually, the house directed the state chief judge, Justice Sulaiman Dikko to set up a panel to investigate the allegations against the governor.

After the setting up of the impeachment panel, the assembly through its spokesman, Hon Baba Ibaku alleged that some of the panel members are card carrying members of the APC and asked the CJ to dissolve it and set up a fresh panel. But Dikko would have nothing of such.

Ironically, while the governor appeared before the panel to defend himself, the Assembly didn’t show up to prove its case.  Although, the counsel for the Assembly, Mr. Ocha Ulegede appeared before the panel in the last day of its sitting, he was there to protest the composition of the panel. He maintained two members of the panel were card carrying members of a political party, while another member was a civil servant.

Ulegede  added that it was wrong for the panel to have set guidelines for itself, arguing that  the constitution stipulates that the rules of proceedings for the panel should come from the Assembly.

“The panel has no power to have sat and even set rules. Its action was a breach of the constitution and the panel should be disbanded on the ground of morality,” he said.

The battle to sack Al-Mukura reached an anti-climax when the impeachment panel dismissed the allegations against him for want of evidence.

According to the chairman of the panel, Yusuf Usman,  because the Assembly failed to appear before it to substantiate its allegation against the governor, it has no choice than to dismiss the allegations.

He noted that “The rule of natural justice and our criminal laws put the onus of proof on the complainant, and failure of which, the accused is deemed innocent.

“The House has failed to advance evidence on the 16 allegations. The panel agrees with the prayer of the counsel for the governor. It has no option than to dismiss each and every of the charges against the governor.”

Expectedly, the Assembly kicked. It said it was not going to accept the decision of the panel.  Ibaku told journalists in Lafia taht: “As far as we are concerned, there is no seven-man panel that is investigating Governor Al-Makura because we had earlier asked the state Chief Judge to disband the panel.

“We will go ahead with our moves to impeach Governor Al-Makura and nothing will stop us, no matter what it entails. We are going to file a case before the law court as soon as we finish our deliberation.”

The House took its case further by petitioning the National Judicial Commission(NJC) to sanction the Chief Judge.

Last Monday, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Lai Mohammed raised the alarm that the Assembly plans to ask a vacation judge in the state to raise a fresh panel to enable it impeach the Al-Mukura.

What the law says

An Nnewi-based lawyer, Mr Obinna Nnaka told Daily Sun in an interview that any attempt by the Nasarawa  Assembly to remove sack Al-Mukura for the same offences he had be cleared of by the impeachment  panel will not only be illegal but also an assault on the Nigerian constitution.

He stated  that while  the Constitution provided in Section 188(5) that the Chief Judge shall at the request of the Speaker of the House of Assembly appoint a panel of seven persons to investigate the allegation provided for the impeachment of  a governor, it also give the Chief judge the discretion to determine who makes it into the panel (provided that the person is not of questionable integrity, a public servant, a member of legislative house or political party).

“So, once the Chief Judge “in his opinion” deems a person fit to be a member of the Panel, there is little anyone can do to change his position. Section 188(8) further provides that where the panel reports to the House of Assembly that the allegation has not been proved, ‘no further proceedings shall be taken in respect of the matter”’.

Nnaka added that “It is worthy of note  that Section 188(10) of the Constitution provides that no proceedings or determination of a panel constituted by the Chief Judge to investigate the allegation shall be entertained or questioned in any court. It therefore follows that the Nasarawa House of Assembly has been constitutionally crippled as it relates to the impeachment based on the allegations that has been investigated. Those allegations have died and nobody has the constitutional power to bring them back to life, not even the Court.”

He said the best thing the Assembly can do is to compile another list of “gross misconduct”.

However, the Nnewi based lawyer said   “even if the allegations were different from the ones for which he has been exonerated, drafting a Judge that is not a  ‘Chief Judge’ to do the work under the mandate of the Chief Judge is an illegality.

Analysts believe that a lot of factors accounts for the determined bid by the PDP dominated Assembly to sack Al-Makura. These include the 2015 political projects of some PDP stalwarts in the state. However, the most critical factor why the Assembly is up-in-arms against the governor is because of the dog-fight between the PDP and the APC.

Those in the know say Al-Mukura’s undoing is his membership of the APC.  Although a gentleman governor, the Nasarawa helmsman is guilty by association. Following the defection of five PDP governors to the APC and the boasting that went along with it, the ruling party started seeking for avenues to get even with the opposition party.

In the search by the PDP for vengeance, the former Nasarawa governor became a marked man. Analysts say the rain actually started beating Al-Mukura, the day his deputy, Mr Damishi Luka left the APC for the PDP in early March this year.

Speaking the launch of the APC “Road map for Nigeria” in Abuja, a few months ago, he had said “I am the only governor without a deputy. They are already trying to use my deputy to impeach me. They will fail.”

Although, the plot to sack the governor has failed for now and it may not  be easy for the Assembly to get  the Chief Judge to set an panel so soon, Al-Mukura’s problems are far from being over. It is expected that the Assembly and the state PDP will continue to lay landmines for him. If he saves the present onslaught and completes his first tenure, getting a second term will certainly not be a piece of cake.