Adamawa Impeachment: Pre-empting The Lacunae In The Process:- As a student of constitutional law and Jurisprudence, I envy the likes of Prof Itse Sagay (SAN), the President, West African Bar Association, Mr Femi Falana and Prof Maxwell Gidado, the Deen, Faculty of Law, Nasarawa State University as well as my able lecturer and mentor, Prof Auwal Yadudu of Bayero University Kano and the one-time Senior Special Adviser to late General Sani Abacha on legal and constitutional matters all of whom I have been able to meet one-on-one in relation to my legal thesis. I am seriously indebted to these legal luminaries in a way too numerous to mention. However, my recent encounter with these Constitutional experts add something to my knowledge of the constitution and exposed one blunder being committed by many legal minds as far as the removal from office of the Governor and other executives is concern. Most importantly, what catches my attention is the discovery that there is nothing like the word impeachment in S. 188 of the 1999 Constitution. So the word impeachment is never used and is an aberration after all. After this discovery, what comes to mind is the currency and frequency with which our lawyers enjoy making use of the word with no iota of hesitation. At last, I concluded the word impeachment could be a tempered word of the press just like many English words that are being caught up by the web of misapplication by our media the world over. Curiously, I now understand the caution with which the Hon Members, Adamawa State House of Assembly tagged their notice to Governor Murtala Nyako and his Deputy as Notice of Allegation of Misconductwhile avoiding the word impeachment . Surprisingly, our press and some lawyers call it notice of impeachment which has no place under our laws. The use of some English words such as bother and border are some.of the misapplied words by the press.(Dont ask me how). With the House now at liberty to pursue their effort in removing the Governor and his Deputy from office now that the injunction earlier given in favour of the duo restraining them is vacated, I have been able to look into the process of the attempt for the removal and have come up with some questions that are mind-boggling and so begging for answers as follows: 1. Was fair-hearing and due process followed in the process of the removal? - I submit respectfully that the conduct of the Adamawa lawmakers had participated in a major breach of fair hearing as put in place in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. What they have done is antithetical to the spirit and letters of S. 188 of the 1999 constitution as amended when they opted to serve the Governor and his Deputy using the dailies in the face of a clear and unambiguous judgment of the supreme court which held that only personal service is contemplated and/or allowed under the law. It is therefore safe to argue that the purported service of Governor Nyako and Ngilary through the papers is the greatest joke of the century as no court in Nigeria will hesitate to void this should the matter is vigorously pursued in court. One is not surprised about this development because the whole thing is premeditated, doctored and forced down the throat of the Hon. Members by the powers-that-be and that is what makes their move unpopular in some quarters. In addition, the House must make sure they comply with subsection 6 of Section 188 of the I999 Constitution that says, the holder of an office whose conduct is being investigated under this section shall have the right to defend himself in person or be represented before the panel by a legal practitioner of his own choice. This applies to the conduct and proceedings of the 7-man panel should there be one as we are anxiously awaiting it. (to be continued)
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 00:13:46 +0000
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