Impeachment: Nyako banks on Jonathan's support

By The Rainbow
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Impeachment: Nyako banks on Jonathan€™s support

THE embattled Adamawa State governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako (retd), indicated on Wednesday that he was banking on the support of President Goodluck Jonathan in this trying time of his political journey.

For him, the President's support should be given should he require it against the background The governor said he had supported Jonathan all the way.

Nyako however noted that he had not asked for his intervention yet because the problem in the state had not reached crisis point. On whether he had been trying to reach out to President Jonathan for his intervention, the governor replied: “Not yet. It has not reached that crisis point.”

“We have supported him all this time; he has supported us and in situations like these when Mr President's support is required, we will seek it,” the governor told the State House correspondents after attending the inauguration of the Safe School Initiative by the president, at the Presidential Villa, on Wednesday.

Nyako, however, called on the state lawmakers to abide by the decision of the court in whatever they had decided to do, saying: “Well, it is in the court and the court said it was not well done. We are hoping that they will follow the normal process in whatever they want to do.”

The Adamwa governor, denied reports in the media that he had considered resigning from office as a way out of the political logjam in the state, but confirmed the report that some former heads of stated had pleaded with President Jonathan on his behalf.

He balamed the situation in the state to the perculiar socio-cultural environment of the state.

According to him, “the state is a very interesting place. If I tell you, we have 87 ethnic groups and the two religions are fairly balanced. It means that being sensitive to each and everyone of us is very important.

“It is a place of intellectualism; everybody has his own point of view and you have a group of people who share a certain point of view. And until it changes, they will maintain that point of view. But we have been peaceful somehow and we will remain peaceful.”

On his rumoured plan to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nyako said “quite frankly, you know how I joined the PDP and partisan politics in the first place. It is not really my field. My field is known. You know what I was before. We are straightforward; have two distinctions: loyalty and disloyalty; two separate pieces.

“But one of the interior politicians told me that there are a lot of things in between loyalty and disloyalty which, up till this moment, I have not appreciated.

“So, for me, with the disloyalty in Nigerian politics of today, you are likely to step on toes of a few,” adding that “I have crossed the rubicon.”

Meanwhile, the seven-man panel  probing governor and his deputy, Bala James Ngilari, is expected resume sitting on Thursday (today).

The panel was constituted by the acting Chief Judge of Adamawa State, Justice Ambrose Mamadi, to probe the allegation of impeachable offences levelled against the governor and his deputy.

Reports indicate that the arrangement to secure a venue for the sitting was at an advanced stage as of press time, on Wednesday.

It was learnt that the panel might settle for one of the buildings at the popular Ribadu Square in Yola, the state capital .

The committee had commenced sitting in one of the hotels in the state capital, on Monday, despite the public holiday declared by Governor Nyako for Monday and Tuesday, only to the locked out of the venue on Tuesday on the orders of the proprietor of the hotel.

Efforts to secure another venue for the sitting since then had failed.

According to the source, “we hope that the new venue being touted for the conclusion of the assignment will not be frustrated again, but if that happens, the committee will surely find an alternative.”

The source, however, confirmed that the lawmakers, who had since gone underground since weekend, would resume their normal sitting today, as all of them had been duly informed on the need to be present at the plenary.