At least 12 out of the 24-member Kebbi State House of
Assembly Wednesday served impeachment notice on Governor Saidu Nasamu Dakingari
for alleged gross misconduct in the handling of the affairs of the state.
The lawmakers in a notice served to the governor last Tuesday
night, accused Dakingari of gross abuse of office and misappropriation of
public funds.
They also presented six impeachable offences against the
governor, alleging that he committed grave violation of the provision of
Section 5(1)(a) of the the state Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence
Bureau Law, 2006, in that the chairman of the bureau is to be a retired civil
servant, but the governor appointed a serving Permanent Secretary/Solicitor
General of the state Ministry of Justice, Aminu Usman, as chairman of the
bureau.
The lawmakers accused the governor of obtaining a loan
facility to the tune of N2 billion from Micro Small and Medium Enterprises
Support Fund set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) without obtaining the
necessary confirmation of two third majority of the assembly.
They further accused the governor of working with unelected
local government councils in the state whose tenure in office already expired
on or about the September 18, 2014, two years after oath of office as provided
by Section 18(1) of the state Local Government Law, 2008 and thereby committed
a gross misconduct.
The 12 lawmakers claimed that between the period of January
2015 and April 2015, the governor allegedly misappropriated the sum of N1,
800,862,672 from the state government funds in the name of 2015 general
election even when there is no provision for that expenditure in the
Appropriation Law 2015.
They further alleged that Dakingari misappropriated the sum
of N965, 000, 000 in the name of the official visits of the President,
Vice-President and First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria between
November 2014 to March 2015 and that the vice-president and first lady did not
make any official visit to the state within the said period thereby committing
gross misconduct.
The legislators further accused the governor of renovating the presidential
lodge and other government lodges at the cost of N558, 560, 416 by an unknown
contractor in September 2011 and thereafter within two months inflated it to
the tune of N1, 347, 373, 906.54, claiming that the contract sum was increased
by the sum of N788 million.
The lawmakers to this end, urged Dakingari to defend himself
in the next one week and failure to do so, they would commence impeachment
process.
Meanwhile, the governor was already out of the state when the
notice was served, but the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji
Garba Rabiu Kamba, told journalists yesterday that the action of the 12
lawmakers did not follow due process before embarking on such action.
He maintained that the action of the members was illegal and
unconstitutional and that they did not reach two third as required by law.
Kamba berated the lawmakers for trying to cause disaffection
in the polity, adding that the state government would continue to recognise
Mohammed Shalla as Speaker of the state House of Assembly.
The same 12 out of 24 members of the assembly had last
Tuesday claimed to have impeached the Speaker, Mohammed Shalla, and deputy,
Mohammed Ja’afaru.
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