Lawmakers of the Zamfara State House of Assembly on Wednesday listed six offences committed by Gov. Abdulaziz Yari, citing them as reasons they are pushing for his impeachment.
Chairman of the Assembly’s Committee on Information, Mannir Gidan-Jaja, in a statement issued in Gusau, the state capital, accused the governor, who is also the current Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) of misappropriating billions of naira from the state coffers.
In the statement, the assembly listed the money allegedly misappropriated to include N11 billion bailout fund, N1 billion agricultural loan released to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and “corrupt abuse of local government funds”. The assembly also accused the governor of failing to remit funds deducted for pensions and gratuities to pension fund administrators as provided by law.
According to the statement, the governor had also ignored a resolution of the assembly not to appoint Murtala Jangebe as Chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board. It said that the assembly had passed a vote of no confidence in Jangebe, after he was allegedly found to have misappropriated over N1 billion belonging to the board in 2014.
The statement accused the governor of frequent foreign trips which have had negative impact on the day-to-day running of government, apart from imposing financial burden on the state.
The lawmakers condemned the arrest of the Speaker, his Deputy, Majority Whip and supporting staff of the assembly by the Department of States Services, DSS.
The lawmakers described the arrest as a clear interference in the functions of the legislature as enshrined in the Constitution. The statement urged President Muhammadu Buhari to caution the DSS against further interference in the matter.
“We are also demanding the unconditional release of our principal officers who are currently under detention with the DSS in Abuja.”
