Impeachment:Bauchi deputy gov begs, ‘Please fast, pray for me’
From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Governor Isa Yuguda
Photo: The Sun Publishing
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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo became the first in Nigeria’s recent political history to make attempt to impeach his deputy or coerce him into resigning his position following the defection of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the Action Congress, AC.

And the thinking in the Obasanjo camp then was that since they both came in on a joint ticket, it would be “immoral” for the Vice President to remain in office. Even though the National Assembly was PDP-dominated, the move to impeach Atiku did not succeed, as a few lawmakers recruited to carry out the threat, dropped the idea mid-way.

In the end, the battle shifted to the courts, and Atiku was seen flooring his boss on all fronts. But the rest, as they say is now history.
In Bauchi State, however, it was not the deputy who abandoned the platform that brought them into office in 2007, rather it is the governor who has jumped ship. And because the deputy has refused to follow him to his “new,” party, Governor Isa Yuguda believes that his deputy must give way.

As at the time of filing this report, the process of impeaching the deputy governor is in progress, following the constitution of a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations leveled against the second-in-command, by the Bauchi State House of Assembly.

But even as the process is on, pressures are being brought on the embattled deputy governor, to resign “honourably,” rather than allow the House to impeach him.
However, the deputy governor, Mohammed Garba Gadi, who told Daily Sun that he had no regrets serving in Yuguda’s administration, said that it would be most dishonourable for him to resign his position, even as he denied the rumour making the round that he had resigned his position owing to pressure.
Gadi came on board with Yuguda after upstaging former governor Adamu Mu’azu in an election, many in the State described as a ‘revolution’ owing to the committed stance of the electorate to protect their mandate against rigging.

Speaking with Daily Sun recently, Gadi tries to betray no emotion as he labours to pooh-pooh the news of his alleged resignation.

Daily Sun gathered that already, 25 out of the 31 members in the House have appended their signatures on the impeachment move.
Hear Gadi “I was on my way to Abuja last week when I was told about the impeachment notice. I heard a committee has been set up to investigate me.
“I have been bombarded with telephone calls, prayers from concern citizens. I thank them. I assure them that I am for the people.

“Rumours are going round that money will be spent to impeach me. If such public money is with me, I won’t use it for such a cause.
“I call on all people who believe in fairness and justice, those who believe we need fair play to fast and pray for me that whosoever contributes to my suffering without my cause, may Allah crush him within such a time,” Gadi, who hails from Katagum zone, a zone that has for long being clamouring for the governorship seat in the State, said.

As Gadi waits on divine intervention in his current travails, his supporters have appealed to the members of the House against making their son a scapegoat in a complex political game unfolding in the state.
Most people who are sympathetic to Gadi believe that the deputy governor was “being unjustly punished for refusing to go with his defecting boss,” who last week received the PDP flag and automatically becomes the leader of the party in the State.

Gadi who rose to the position of a Permanent Secretary in the state civil service stood his ground and vowed that he would remain in the ANPP on whose platform the two of them were elected two years ago.
Throughout the encounter with the embattled deputy governor, he appeared unruffled with occasional flash of a smile, but close watchers of unfolding events in the State believe that he may not survive the battle.
The embattled deputy governor is accused of collecting estacode twice from the State Pilgrim Welfare board and the Office of the Deputy Governor.

Another sum of N2 million was alleged to have disappeared from office when he was the Commissioner for Lands and Survey, even as he was equally accused of gross misconduct by the House.
The panel investigating these charges is headed by Mr Abdul Babayo, former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of old Bauchi State.

Gadi has maintained his innocence and wants the panel to try him openly saying, “I believe I would not be found wanting. I served and rose to the position of Permanent Secretary and I have never been indicted. I am yet to have contact with the panel, but it must be a public one,” he insists.
Asked if he has ever discussed the issue of his refusal to join the PDP with his boss, Gadi, who holds the traditional title of Danburam Katagum says, “I have never discussed that with him. Some people called me and asked me to resign and get N100 million benefits, that if I am impeached I will lose that and even re-election.

“It is never my dream to get money if it is not proper. I am not an ambitions person. Don’t forget, I wanted to go to the Senate, before I was prevailed upon to run with Yuguda.”
On the defection of the Speaker, Hon Babayo Gamawa and 17 other members of the House, Gadi says, “I believe in the right of every individual to defect. But those that were called at the rally were 18 but only nine came out. So, where are the others?
“To me, the position of those legislator who defected would be evaluated vis-a vis the constitution at the appropriate time.”

Speaking on the impeachment move, one of his loyal supporters, AdbulWahab Gambo popularly called Babi Maimasara recalls that Yuguda has never wanted Gadi to be his deputy and was looking for any excuse to remove him.

“I told the deputy governor a year ago that Yuguda wants to replace him. That he preferred the former deputy governor to Muazu, AbdulMalik Mahmood.
“Yuguda has always felt that he made a mistake by having Gadi as his deputy,” Gambo added.