Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State on Friday absolved President Goodluck Jonathan of blame in the impeachment saga initiated by the State House of Assembly.
His comment comes on the heels of the setting up of a seven-member panel by the State Chief Judge to investigate the allegations levelled against the governor by the lawmakers.
The panel is expected to be sworn-in on a yet-to-be announced date and its constitution is in line with the constitutional procedure for removing an elected governor.
Reacting for the first time since the beginning of the impeachment drama, Nyako blamed ‘some senior citizens’ of the state based in Abuja for the political tension in the state.
“The presidency is not planning a plot to remove me from office contrary to speculations”, he said. “We know that Adamawa state is full of intellectuals, when issues arise, we use different approaches to address it. That is the cause of the political differences we have, but no much outside interference”, he stressed.
The embattled governor said he had reflected on the allegations of gross misconduct levelled against him and came to the conclusion that it was nothing “too serious”.
He said: “I came with certain conclusions of all the issues raised. There is nothing too serious”. He recalled that “Three months ago, the house itself has passed a verdict praising the administration as transparent and performing well and I don’t want them to lose that faith”.
Nyako explained that after carefully studying the situation, he concluded that all the allegations raised were not enough to prosecute him in court.
“After studying the situation, I came to the conclusion and belief that all the omissions and commissions raised are not prosecutable and are not the type to take somebody to court about whether he is guilty or not guilty”, he said.
The governor expressed his appreciation to the state workers for their patience in the face of owed salaries. He said he is working round the clock to ensure that the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, de-freezes the state’s accounts.
“I plead with the EFCC to de freeze our account, Adamawa is a poor state and depends only on Federal Allocation to pay its salary so that our people can have reprieve during the Ramadan. If that is not successful, I will challenge it in court since a Supreme Court has already said the EFCC has no reason to freeze any account.
“Very soon, all forces of reconciliation will be set in motion. We will use our kinship, traditional and religious leaders to calm down the situation”, Mr. Nyako added.
While debunking the insinuations of gross misconduct levelled against his administration, Nyako said he we would rather assist the legislature to uncover any fraud in order to entrench good governance in the state.