The embattled Adamawa State Governor, Alhaji Murtala Nyako,
on Wednesday, vowed not to appear before the seven-member investigative panel
set up by the immediate-past Acting Chief Judge of Adamawa State, Justice
Ambrose Mammadi.
Nyako spoke through his Director of Press and Public
Relations, Ahmad Sajoh, via the telephone with one of our correspondents.
The governor spoke just as the panel set up to investigate
allegations against him and his deputy, Mr. James Ngilari, secured a new venue
for its sitting.
The panel was thrown out of its former venue, the J&J
Holiday Villa by the owners who cited security concerns.
The hotel management was said to have rejected the panel on
the grounds that a large presence of soldiers at the venue would scare away
customers from the hotel.
The committee was also turned back at others hotels in Yola,
which it contacted, after it was ejected from J & J Holiday Villa.
The panel was rebuffed at the Nigeria Labour Congress Club
and Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre.
Members of the panel spent the better part of Tuesday,
searching for alternative venues but failed to secure one after they were
turned down by other organisations.
Reprieve came the way of the panel on Wednesday, after the
Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria agreed to allow the panel use its
conference hall for its deliberations.
The decision of the union to allow the panel use its
facility is also a subject of controversy as the state chairman of the union,
Mr. Jeremiah Nkyekwar, told reporters he was not aware of any agreement to
allow the panel the use of the facility.
The panel has, in continuation of its activities, announced
Friday, July 11, 2014 as the date for its next sitting.
A notice to this effect was pasted on the gate of Government
House Yola, at about 3: 45pm.
But armed riot policemen prevented journalists from
approaching the gate to read the contents of the notice as of the time of
filing this report.
Nyako, however, said he had no intention of honouring any
invitation by the panel because “it is an illegal body which has no basis in
law.”
Speaking through Sajoh, Nyako said, “They are not supposed
to paste the notice. They are supposed to serve it. Besides, the panel was
illegally constituted because those behind it ignored a subsisting court order.
“The composition of the committee itself is faulty indicted
persons as well as card carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party are
among the panelists.”
Seemingly unperturbed by happenings at home, Nyako who was
in Abuja to attend the inauguration of the Steering Committee of the Safe School
Initiative at the Presidential Villa, told State House correspondent’s that the
situation was under control.
He told reporters that the matter had not reached a point
where he would call on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene.
Punch.
When asked to confirm if he had been trying to reach out to
the President for his intervention, the embattled governor simply said, “Not
yet. It has not reached that crisis point.”
The governor, however, said he would not hesitate to seek
Jonathan’s assistance whenever he felt the need to do so.
“We have supported him (the President) all this time; he has
supported us and in situations like these, when Mr. President’s support is
required, we will seek it,” he said.
When confronted with media reports that two former leaders
had approached the President on his behalf, Nyako simply said, “That will be
excellent!”
He expressed the belief that the lawmakers would follow due
process in their activities since issues bordering on the impeachment move were
already in court.
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