Zamfara House begins impeachment of NGF Chairman, Governor Yari; DSS arrests Speaker, others

Operatives of the Department of State Services have arrested the Speaker of the

Zamfara State House of Assembly, Sanusi Rikiji, in connection with an alleged
plot to impeach Governor Abdulaziz Yari.
Rikiji and other principal officers of the Assembly, who were picked up on
Tuesday in Gusau, capital of the state, are said to be currently detained in
Abuja.
Those said to be detained along with him are the Deputy Speaker, Muhammad
Gumi; the Majority Leader, Isah Abdulmumini; and the Chief Whip, Abdullahi
Dansadau.
The House of Assembly, however, on Wednesday, listed six impeachable
offences against Yari, in an apparent move to begin an impeachment process
against the governor.
A statement issued by the Chairman, Zamfara State House of Assembly’s
Committee on Information, Mannir Gidan-Jaja, accused the governor of
misappropriating billions of naira from the state coffers.
It listed the money allegedly misappropriated to include:
N11bn bailout, N1bn agricultural loan released to the state by the Central Bank
and “corrupt abuse of local government funds.”
The Assembly accused the governor of failing to remit funds deducted for
pensions and gratuities to pension fund administrators, as provided by law.
According to the statement, the governor had also ignored a resolution of the
Assembly not to appoint Alhaji Murtala Jangebe as the Chairman of the state
Universal Basic Education Board.
It said that the Assembly had passed a vote of no confidence on Jangebe, after
he was allegedly found to have misappropriated over N1bn belonging to the
board in 2014.
The statement accused the governor of frequent foreign trips which, the
lawmakers said, had negative impact on the day-to-day running of government,
apart from imposing financial burden on the state.
The lawmakers condemned the arrest of the Speaker, his deputy, Majority Whip
and supporting staff of the assembly by the DSS.
The lawmakers described the arrest as a clear interference in the functions of
the legislature.
The statement urged President Buhari to caution the DSS against further
interference in the matter.
“We are also demanding the unconditional release of our principal officers, who
are currently under detention with the DSS in Abuja,’’ the lawmakers said.
In his reaction, Governor Yari described the allegations leveled against him by
the assembly as wild.

Yari, who spoke through one of his Special Advisers, Ibrahim Dosara, faulted the
six-point grudge against the governor.
On the allegation of low budgetary release, Dosara said, “A checklist of all the
states in the federation shows that there is virtually a blanket paucity of funds
nationwide and Zamfara State cannot be an exception from this national
setback.”
On the allegation against the SUBEB’s chairman appointment in spite of alleged
corruption levelled against him by the lawmakers, Dosara said Jangebe had yet
to be found guilty by any court of law of competent jurisdiction.
He added, “Suffice it to say that most, if not all the claims in the legislators
grievances, are baseless, unfounded and self-seeking, with the aim of inciting
the general public against the governor for reasons best known to them.”