17 Lawmakers Set To Impeach Ex Adamawa Ag Governor Umaru Fintiri

Seventeen of the 25 members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly are set to impeach the sacked Acting Governor and Speaker, Hon, Umaru Fintiri. The plot to impeach Fintiri was initiated at the weekend following his removal from office as acting governor by the Federal High Court, Abuja, which ordered the immediate swearing-in of the former Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari as the substantive governor. The lawmakers, who he...ld a closed-door meeting in a hotel in Yola, the state capital on Thursday, resolved to impeach Fintiri as Speaker. The plot could not be carried out because the Speaker was absent at the session as he traveled with Governor Ngilari to Abuja. Consequently, the lawmakers, who have signed the impeachment notice, adjourned session and slated the exercise for today. Nigerian Pilot learnt last night that when the Assembly resume plenary today, the former Majority Leader of the House and member representing Yola North Constituency, Hon. Ashake Bala, will move the motion for Fintiri’s impeachment over alleged “gross administrative misconduct.” Hon. Fintiri became the Acting Governor following the House’s impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako and the purported resignation of Ngilari as Deputy Governor. When Justice Adeniyi Ademola voided the alleged resignation and declared Ngilari the substantive governor of the state and ordered that the status quo be maintained, Fintiri was expected to return to his office as Speaker of the House. But when the motion for Fintiri’s assumption was moved at last Thursday’s plenary, the House quickly adjourned with the PDP lawmakers going into a closed-door meeting on the matter. Nigerian Pilot exclusively reported last Friday that members of the House would decide on Fintiri’s fate as Speaker. A member of staff of the House said yesterday that the lawmakers were initially waiting for the outcome of the aborted October 11, 2014 election to see if Fintiri would attempt to seek a return to the Assembly as Speaker in the event of being defeated. He stated that his sack set the stage for the plot to block his return and impeach him. According to him, most of the lawmakers were aggrieved that the Speaker betrayed them on several issues during his tenure as Acting Governor. When our correspondent sampled the opinions of some politicians on the development, one of them, Mr. Ibrahim Waiyrem, said that the former acting governor erred when he entered the cancelled governorship election. He said it was unconstitutional for him to have denied Ngilari the chances of becoming the next governor after the exit of Nyako. Hon. Waiyera, an aspirant for the Nasarawa/Binyeri Constituency under the PDP platform, said Fintiri was overambitious, adding that he failed the people during his short reign.