The President and Commander-in-Chief,
Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Aso Rock Villa,
Abuja.
Your Excellency,
OPEN LETTER:
COMEDY OF LEGAL ERRORS IN THE ADAMAWA STATE CRISES: THE CASE
OF ILLEGAL OUSTER OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR
 |
| Festus Keyamo |
I am extremely worried that the nation may be gradually
sliding into a state of anomie if your Excellency turns a blind eye and deaf
ears to the various illegalities that have characterised the process employed
in the gale of impeachments, or threatened impeachments and/or removal of
elected representatives of the people in various parts of this country. In some
cases, it is political considerations and maneuverings that becloud the sense
of reasoning of the dramatis personae so much so that the proper constitutional
requirements for such processes are thrown overboard.
Take the case of Adamawa State. The facts as I understand
them is that on 4th of July, 2014, the Acting Chief Judge of the State,
Honourable Justice Ambrose Mamadi, at the request of the Speaker of the House
of Assembly (following the adoption of a motion by two-thirds of members of the
House to probe allegations of gross misconduct against the Governor and Deputy
Governor), set up a seven-man panel to probe the Governor and Deputy Governor
of the State.
The Panel allegedly sat and submitted its report on the 14th
of July, 2014. I will, at this stage, totally avoid the controversies regarding
the service of the summons or allegations against the Governor and his Deputy,
the proceedings of the seven-man panel, issues of fair-hearing e.t.c. I will
proceed to the events of the 15th of July, 2014, which are not in dispute.
From the Votes and Proceedings of the House on the 15th of
July, 2014 (which I have obtained) the following transpired in sequential
order:
(a) The Speaker
and members took their seats.
(b) The House
adopted the proceedings of its last sitting.
(c) The Speaker announced the absence of a
few members.
(d) The Speaker
announced the receipt of the letter of resignation of the Deputy Governor, Bar.
Bala James Nggilari, ADDRESSED TO THE SPEAKER, and read the contents.
(e) The House
considered and accepted the letter of resignation and declared the office of
the Deputy Governor vacant.
(f) The House
then went on to consider the report of the seven-man panel which indicted the
Governor of the State, Murtala Nyako, and accepted the report.
(g) The Speaker
then declared the Governor removed from office and the House directed the
Acting Chief Judge or the President of the Customary Court of Appeal of the
State to swear in the Honourable Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru as Acting
Governor pending fresh elections by INEC.
From the above-stated facts, as they occurred in sequential
order, the following facts are not in dispute:
(a) The Deputy
Governor, Bar. Bala James Nggilari, addressed his resignation to the Speaker,
and not the Governor of the State. At the foot of the letter, the Governor was
only copied.
(b) The then
Governor, Murtala Nyako, did not receive any such letter from the Deputy
Governor, and this was later confirmed by the Governor in a press release on
the 16th of July, 2014.
(c) At the
material time the House received and purportedly accepted the supposed
resignation of the Deputy Governor, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd) was still
the Governor of the State.
Your Excellency, what does the 1999 Constitution (as
amended), - which you have sworn to defend and uphold - say about such a
resignation?
Sections 306 (1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution,
state as follows:
“(1) Save as
otherwise provided in this section, any person who is appointed, elected or
otherwise selected to any office established by this Constitution may resign
from that office by writing under his hand addressed to the authority or person
by whom he was appointed, elected or selected.
(2) The resignation
of any person from any office established by this Constitution shall take
effect when the writing signifying the resignation is received by the authority
or person to whom it is addressed or by any person authorized by that authority
or person to receive it.
(5) The notice of
resignation of the Governor and of the Deputy Governor of a State shall
respectively be addressed to the Speaker of the House of Assembly and the
Governor of the State.” (emphasis mine)
From the above sections, it can be clearly seen that the
declaration of the seat of the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State vacant by the
House of Assembly was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void. The House has
no such powers and can play no such role under the Constitution. The least we should
have expected was for the House to impeach the Governor (assuming but not
conceding that due process was followed in his case) and swear in the Deputy
Governor as the substantive Governor. We were never told that he was indicted
by the seven-man panel set up by the Acting Chief Judge of the State.
Consequently, by the provisions of sections 306 (1),(2)
& (5) above, the purported resignation of the Deputy Governor never took
place, or at worst, never took effect. It can only take effect, UPON RECEIPT OF
IT BY THE GOVERNOR.
As it is, the present Acting Governor (who was the former
Speaker), can only hold office for three months, pending fresh elections. Even
the winner of that election, by the provision of section 191(2) of the 1999
Constitution can only complete the unexpired tenure of Murtala Nyako. It means
if we have a governorship election in October in Adamawa State, we will have
another again within four months, going by INEC’s timetable for elections next
year. What a waste of public funds!
Your Excellency, if proper constitutional procedure is
followed, let wise counsel prevail by reverting immediately to the situation
where the Deputy Governor, Bar. Bala James Nggilari, is sworn in as the
Governor and he nominates a deputy to complete the term of office of Murtala
Nyako in the next few months. This will save the State from unnecessary
election crises and unnecessary waste of public funds by INEC.
We cannot imagine a situation where any interested party now
heads to court to challenge the removal of Bar. Bala James Nggilari from office
and he is re-instated at the last minute when election materials have been
printed and personnel already deployed at great expense.
Mr. President, you can save this nation this unnecessary
waste of public funds by doing the needful.
I remain yours most trusted.
FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.
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