Zamfara state Governor, Abdulaziz Yari
The State Security Services on the orders of Governor Abdulaziz Yari, have arrested the Speaker of Zamfara State House of Assembly, Sanusi Rikiji, his deputy, Muhammad Gumi and other principal officers of the Assembly after the governor accused them of plotting to impeach him from office.
The Voice of America Hausa Service reported on Wednesday that the lawmakers were in detention in Abuja, adding that others arrested includes; the House majority leader, Isah Abdulmumini, and the chief whip of the house, Abdullahi Dansadau.
Reports reveal that trouble began for the lawmakers after the assembly called for a special sitting with Governor Yari to discuss what it called “the difficult situation the state found itself” especially as regards governance of the state and how to find a way out.
The lawmakers said the governor misunderstood their mission and assumed that it was just a ploy to impeach him, hence his decision to order their arrest and detention.
Umaru Faru, who is one of the lawmakers, disclosed to the VOA that everyone knows the precarious situation that the state has found itself.
“People accuse the governor of abandoning the state, and they are also complaining about the handling of the state resources especially the bailout funds released specifically to pay workers’ salaries.
“The money came but no one knows what happened to it, as we speak local government staff, pensioners have not been paid, in fact, our traditional rulers have not been paid their 5% constitutional allocation for several months, civil servants pay was cut and some of them were even sacked because of dwindling revenue, however, they were not paid their entitlement even after the bailout came. That is why we invited them, definitely not for impeachment purposes,” he said.
It was gathered that the remaining lawmakers have fled the state and were taking refuge in Kaduna state for fear of arrest.
In a statement released late on Tuesday, the lawmakers asked President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene, and accused Governor Yari of abuse of office.
The statement, which was signed by the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Mannir Gidan Jaja, accused the governor of“corrupt usage of local government funds for state purposes”.
They also accuse him of being unable to explain how the N1 billion commercial agriculture loan given to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was utilized.
The state commissioner of information, Umaru Bukkuyum, however denied that the lawmakers were in detention, adding the lawmakers were“just invited to Abuja for a meeting on how to find solution to all the problems”.
No comments:
Post a Comment