The Adamawa State House of Assembly has dropped five of the 20 charges it levelled against Governor Murtala Nyako following its failure to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt before the seven-man panel investigating gross misconduct against him and his deputy Bala James Ngillari.
The House had, on June 18, 2014, preferred a 20-count charge of gross misconduct against Governor Nyako. Nineteen out of the 25 lawmakers endorsed the move, leading to the commencement of impeachment proceedings against the governor. With the repudiation of five of the charges, the governor is now facing 15 charges.
Foremost among the charges dropped by the House of Assembly is that the state government allegedly spent the sum of N120m to sponsor a visit of a former head of state, an APC chieftain, to commiserate with victims of insurgency attack in Madagali and Michika local government areas of the state.
Another allegation dropped due to lack of evidence is the one in which the governor was accused of awarding a fraudulent contract of over N8 billion through SNECOU Group of Companies Ltd, a company linked to one of the governor’s wives.
Counsel to the assembly Barr Leonard Nzadon announced the abandoning of the allegations while summing up his presentation before the panel over the weekend.
Nzadon however argued that the governor would be guilty of breaching section 188 of the constitution even if only one of the remaining allegations which were backed by oral, written and video evidences were proven.
“We submit with greatest respect that there is abundant proof before this panel that there is grave violation of the constitution, breach of the constitution and misconduct within the meaning of section 188 sub-section 11 of the 1999 Constitution as amended,” Nzadon said.