The ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has defended the impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state describing the development as democracy in action.”The impeachment of the former Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako is an act of democracy. It is a constitutional right granted exclusively to the people of Adamawa State and no other. This, they exercised through the votes of the overwhelming majority of the elected members of the State House of Assembly who also accorded rule of law and due process the rightful place in removing Nyako. Therefore, allegations by the All Progressives Congress (APC), linking the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan to this are purely escapist and can only come from revisionists and reactionary forces, the unmasked pretenders to democracy.”
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, Sunday, said it was unfortunate that the APC that claimed to champion the rights of the people to choice of leadership was the same party turning against the constitutionally guaranteed right of the people to withdraw legitimacy through impeachment and recall.
“It is really an irony but what does one expect from the APC that is undergoing febrile seizure over the furious collapse of its imagined dominance of Nigeria’s political space? It is not surprising that the drowning, who is striving to clutch on any available straws would turn the PDP into a scape goat.”
The statement advised the APC to look inwards in finding answers to its woes and leave the PDP out of it, saying that “if a sitting governor who has spent over seven years in office could be removed by more than two-third of the members of his state assembly, reasons should be located to fundamental factors within rather than the trite excuses of external influence.”
“How did almost the entire members of the state assembly, some of whom were his allies, turn against Nyako? Those who buy into the APC’s wild allegations of external influence and monetary inducement will only submit to the illogical because of the impossibility that there is no member among the 24 out of 28 member assembly with conscience to reject such influence. And if the APC insists that Nyako’s decampment is the reason for his impeachment, we also ask why the Adamawa electorates whom he had served for over seven years raised no hoot in defence of him.
“The APC must therefore go back to the reasons tabled by the Adamawa Assembly instead of desecrating and discrediting the citadel of democracy which has been its hobby for some time. That the sins of Nyako were not punished earlier until ‘yesterday’ as it argued does not make them less, even obviate or offer remission. The law, it is said, has a long arm. The time it catches up with an offender is immaterial to the gravity of the offence,” the PDP insisted.
The party further argued that those having sleepless nights over the impeachment were not indigenes of Adamawa, rather selfish APC leaders from other states benefiting from siphoned resources of Adamawa people.
“Instead of engaging in unfounded claims, the APC leaders should be humble and honest enough to look inwards and seek answers as to why the entire people of Adamawa state rejected the former Governor and why the acclaimed mobilization of APC, including visits by some of their governors failed to save him. The APC should ask why Nyako’s removal was greeted by jubilations by the people as such do not happen when good leaders suffer such fate.
“We wish to note that this is not unconnected with the maladministration that characterized the APC-led government of former Governor Nyako, the details of which Nigerians now know as well as the fact that the impeached governor bluntly refused to offer explanations despite being given ample opportunity to do so in line with constitutional provisions.
“While we state in no uncertain terms that neither the PDP as party nor President Jonathan is remotely or otherwise connected to the impeachment in Adamawa or elsewhere, we also wish to ask the APC to locate the Sword of Damocles dangling in some of the states which they control to the expression of the collective will of the people against bad governance as the PDP believes strongly in separation of powers and the sanctity of the legislature.”
