Two
former military heads of state led the embattled Adamawa State Governor
Murtala Nyako to a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday
night in Abuja as part of the efforts to save Nyako, who is battling to
escape impeachment by legislators in his state.
The PUNCH learnt that the meeting was at the instance of the two ex-heads of state.
A source close to the meeting confided in
one of our correspondents that the two former dictators’ intervention
rested on the fact that Nyako was a mutual friend.
Nyako is a retired Vice-Admiral and one-time Chief of Naval Staff under ex-dictator Ibrahim Babangida.
The source said, “The two military
leaders took the governor to meet with the President last night. They,
however, did not get a commitment because the President insisted that
the governor should withdraw his contentious memo to the Northern
Governors’ Forum and publicly apologise for his indiscretions.
“The governor, who did not appear
prepared to buckle, said he was prepared to leave office instead of
taking any action which has the capacity to plunge the state into
anarchy.”
Nyako had in April in a memo to the
Northern Governors’ Forum alleged that there was a full-fledged genocide
against the northern states and that the Federal Government was using
the attack on Boko Haram to massively kill northerners.
He also said that virtually all the
soldiers of Northern Nigerian origin recently recruited to fight Boko
Haram had been deceived in that aspect.
He had said, ‘‘They are being poorly
trained, totally ill-equipped, given only uniform and are killed by
their trainers in Nigerian Army training centres as soon as they arrive
in the Nigerian Army camps being used by the so-called Boko Haram
insurgents. Virtually all the Nigerian Army soldiers killed/murdered in
these operations so far are of Northern Nigeria origin.
“The Administration has also hired
militia men from all across, especially North Africa, who have been
deceived into accepting to come because they were made to believe that
they would be fighting infidels.”
The ex-heads of state’s intervention also
coincided with a similar effort by emirs from the eight emirates across
Adamawa State under the leadership of the Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji
Mohammadu Musdafa. The emirs met in Yola, on Tuesday, as part of efforts
to resolve the political impasse.
Nyako on Tuesday refused to entertain
questions from journalists over the impeachment process instituted
against him by the Adamawa State House of Assembly.
Nyako had set aside his ordeal to attend a meeting of the Council of State, presided over by Jonathan.
The Adamawa governor was the cynosure of all eyes when he arrived at the Council Chambers venue of the meeting at about 10:40am.
His colleagues kept visiting his seat to
identify with him and get first-hand information on the development in
his state. Nyako however remained calm throughout the period.
As soon as the meeting ended, the
governor was the first to make his way out of the Presidential Villa. He
refused to answer questions from journalists.
Meanwhile, members of the seven- man
panel set up to investigate Nyako and his deputy, James Ngillari, for
alleged gross misconduct could not meet after its Monday’s inaugural
meeting.
It was learnt that the management of J
& J Hotel Villa, where the committee members held their inaugural
meeting shut their doors against the committee owing to what they
described as “security concerns.”
The hotel management was said to have
complained that the heavy presence of security personnel and the
armoured personnel carrier stationed in front of the hotel premises was
scaring away customers.
The clerk of the Adamawa House of
Assembly, who was saddled with the responsibility of seeking for an
alternative venue, was also said to have been turned down by other
hotels as words spread about what transpired in J and J hotel.
An attempt by panel members to use the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress Club was also said to have been equally rejected.
It was also learnt that the that the
panel’s overtures to the Adamawa State Council of the Nigeria Union of
Journalists to use the Press Centre led to a division among the
journalists.
An emergency meeting of the union was
said to have been held and a majority of members kicked against letting
out the union’s conference hall for the panel’s sitting.
Unconfirmed report indicated that an
initial deposit of N170, 000 was made by an emissary of the committee
but the money was refunded when an overwhelming majority of the NUJ
members rejected the proposal to use the hall.
PUNCH
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