Dakingari gets notice of impeachment
Governor Sa’idu Dakingari of Kebbi State was yesterday served a notice of impeachment by 12 members of the state House of Assembly for gross misconduct.
The notice was served after the same 12 lawmakers, who had earlier defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressive Congress, impeached the Speaker, Mohammed Shalla and his deputy Mohammed Ja’afaru, for alleged breach of trust and embezzlement of members allowances. They then re-appointed the former Speaker, Habib Musa Jega, who was impeached alongside his deputy, Mohammed Bena, last year.
The legislators resolved to serve the notice at a session held outside the Assembly, following the sealing of the Assembly complex by armed anti-riot police.
They accused Governor Dakingari of violating Section 5(1)(a) of the Kebbi State Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Bureau Law,2006, in the appointment of chairman of the Bureau. The lawmakers said the chairman of the Bureau ought to be a retired civil servant, not a serving permanent secretary/ Solicitor General of the state Ministry of Justice, as appointed by the governor. They also accused the governor of obtaining a loan to the tune of N2 billion from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Support Fund set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) without confirmation by the Assembly.
Part of the notice read: “The governors continues work with local government council chairmen, whose tenure in office expired in September,2014. Between January and now, the governor took the sum of N1,800,862,672.00 from the government’s purse in the name of election, even when there is no provision for that expenditure in the Appropriation Law 2015. The governor claimed to have spent N965,000, 000.00 on the visits of the president, vice president and First Lady between November, 2014 and March, 2015 , when in actual fact, the vice president and First Lady did not make any official visit to Kebbi State within that period”.
When contacted, the new Speaker said, “location of the sitting is immaterial so long as the Mace and 12 members, which constitute 1/3 of the Assembly, are in attendance”.
Secretary to the State Government, Garba Rabiu Kamba, in a press statement, said the action of the members is “Illegal and unconstitutional,” adding that the Government will continue to recognize Hassan Mohammed Shalla as Speaker of Kebbi State House of Assembly.
He said government contacted the “impeached” Speaker, Hassan Mohammed Shalla, and that he said it was a group of lawmakers who convened the meeting, contrary to the resolution of the House at its last sitting to embark on recess until May 5, 2015.
“The government of Kebbi State is aware that Habib Musa Jega was removed as Speaker of the House of Assembly on November 27, 2014. The members action is aimed at causing problem in the state,” he said.