Presidency plotting removal of three more govs –el-Rufai

JULY 16, 2014 

Mallam Nasir el-Rufai
| credits: File copy

A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and member of the All Progressives Congress, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has accused the Presidency of orchestrating the impeachment of the Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako.

Fuming few minutes after the news of Nyako’s removal by the Adamawa State House of Assembly filtered in, El-Rufai stated that the development was capable of “endangering the nation.”

Writing on his Facebook page on Tuesday, the former minister, however, alleged that the scheming by the Presidency to deal with the APC was not over.

According to him, he and other leaders of the party have uncovered plots by the Presidency to perfect the impeachment of three more governors from the opposition party.

He listed the governors as Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State; Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State.

“Jonathan’s impunity is endangering the nation. Adamawa APC governor Murtala Nyako was impeached to pave the way for a PDP man to become governor.

“Nasarawa is next. Then, Rivers and Edo. And President Jonathan thinks that all will be well while he violates the constitution and the law. We will see how it all ends. We have been there before!” he wrote in a post on his Facebook page.

While no social media accounts could be traced to Nyako, socio-political commentators have gone online to bare their minds on his impeachment.

A message on the official Twitter page of a former Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki, stated that with the impeachment of Nyako, it seemed as if Nigeria was “heading towards a one-party state.”

Also, Rukaiya, a native of Adamawa State and daughter of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, blamed Nyako for his travails.

She described Nyako as being “the worst of them all”, adding that it was unfortunate that he could not “handle” the members of the state legislature

“Nyako could not handle the legislators in his own state, he was never a politician in the first instance. Good riddance to bad rubbish! Nyako has really been the worst of them all!” Rukaiya, who shuttles between Yola, London and Dubai, wrote on her Twitter page.

An online commentator, Chukwu Debelu, stated that the APC’s underestimation of the Peoples Democratic Party contributed to the successful impeachment of Nyako.

An impeachment plot, Debelu argued, takes several weeks of “methodical planning” before being successful.

According to him, while APC was busy grabbing local and international headlines, the PDP worked underground to impeach Nyako.

“I remember Awolowo referring to Shagari as a ‘glorified Grade II teacher’. You don’t underestimate your opponent. Never!

“Now, Nyako has been impeached. I remember the triumphalism from APC earlier this year. PDP should never be underestimated.

“While APC was seizing local and international headlines, the PDP was working silently and methodically to remove Nyako who was put under the radar.

“You don’t impeach a sitting governor in a day. It takes weeks and months of methodical planning.”

Political blogger, Japheth Omojuwa, described the political climate in Adamawa as a “thriller.”

He is of the opinion that Nyako paid dearly for being on the offensive against the President. He, however, blamed the ex-governor for going on the attack “without cover at home.”

Describing the removal of Nyako as a “Machiavellian scheming” from the Presidency, he stated that he should have emulated Amaechi who, he argued, made sure he had his state house of assembly on his side before “going on the attack.”

“Nyako bites the dust. We are the world’s biggest joke and our democracy is at best a joke. However, if he was a performing governor, there’d have been an argument for him,” Omojuwa added on Twitter.

Another respondent, Ogunyemi Bukola, linked Nyako’s travails to the 8-page memo he wrote to Jonathan in which he accused the Federal Government of genocide against northern Nigeria.

Wondering why the APC national leadership could not save Nyako from impeachment, Bukola accused the President of stifling out opposition.

“Sanusi wrote Goodluck Jonathan and he was removed from office as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Murtala Nyako also wrote the President and he was impeached as Adamawa Governor. I think it is safe to say there would be no more letters of criticisms addressed to Jonathan,” Bukola tweeted.