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Obasanjo set to impeach 13 governors
 Political
turbulence could be witnessed across the country in the next few months,
if President Olusegun Obasanjo succeeds in his plan to influence the
impeachment of 13 state governors as well as Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
At press time, Leadership Weekend can reveal, the president had made up
his mind to see to the impeachment of not only Governors Ayo Fayose of
Ekiti State and Joshua Dariye of Plateau State but also the governors of
the following states: Lagos (Ahmed Bola Tinubu), Benue (George Akume),
Enugu (Chimaroke Nnamani), Niger (Abdulkadir Kure) and Imo (Achike Udenwa).
Others are Abia (Orji Uzor Kalu), Delta (James Ibori), Adamawa (Boni
Haruna), Edo (Lucky Igbinedion), Zamfara (Ahmed Sani) and Akwa Ibom
(Victor Attah).
Apparently aware of the conflagration being prepared by Aso Rock — and
which might lead to the scuttling of the 2007 general elections and the
extension of the incumbent administration – the Governors’ Forum met in
Abuja Thursday. Though the new chairman of the Forum, Governor Igbinedion
of Edo State, told newsmen Wednesday that the governors were going to
discuss the issue of Fayose’s impeachment, he and his colleagues were
equally concerned about what they received from their intelligence
network.
Leadership Weekend gathered, however, that they put forward the cases of
Fayose and Dariye who had been served notices of impeachment. They
resolved at the meeting that they were opposed to the impeachment of their
two colleagues and that the face-off between the president and his deputy
should end so that peace would be restored in the country.
At the end of the meeting, Leadership Weekend was told, Governor
Igbinedion went to Aso Rock to present the resolutions to the president.
The governor was said to have told Obasanjo that they (governors) were
against the impeachment of the two governors and that they also wanted him
to settle the dispute with his deputy. Upon the governor’s mentioning of
Atiku, Leadership Weekend gathered, the president flared up. “He banged
the table,” said our source. “He asked Governor Igbinedion and his
colleagues, ’Don’t you have deputies? Would you tolerate what Atiku is
doing to me if it were done to you?’.”
When he mellowed down, the president returned to the issue of Fayose and
Dariye. He said Fayose had problems with his people in Ekiti, and that
because his (president’s) lawyer Afe Babalola was leading the campaign to
remove him from office, people might assume he was the one behind the
governor’s troubles. He pretended he had nothing to do with the case but
everyone knows that Babalola would not do anything the president is
against.
On Dariye, the president said it was the governor’s fault. He explained
that he had advised him to resign when his problem with the EFCC (Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission) started and that he would allow him
contest election into the Senate.
In preparing to move against 13 governors, President Obasanjo was banking
on the method he used to remove Governor Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo State from
power early this year. When he was told that the number of lawmakers
required to effect Ladoja’s impeachment was not available, the president
had told the former governor’s opponents who were plotting his impeachment
that even if there were only three people, they should go ahead and leave
the rest to him (the president). A small number of members of the State
House of Assembly eventually sat under the watchful eye of the
presidency’s agents to “impeach” Ladoja, contrary to the provisions of the
constitution. Yet, the votes of at least two-thirds of members of the
House are needed to impeach a governor.
Though most of the governors now being targeted by Obasanjo were opponents
of his third term agenda, Leadership Weekend gathered that he also wants
to sacrifice some of them for selfish reasons. Governor Chimaroke Nnamani
is one of the victims. The governor has been President Obasanjo’s “boy”
over the years. In 2001, when two-thirds of Enugu State lawmakers
attempted to impeach Governor Nnamani, it was Obasanjo that frustrated the
plan, even though the governor’s misdeeds were glaring to him. But the
president, it was learnt, now intends to sacrifice the Enugu helmsman, who
was on the list of governors indicted by the EFCC recently. Understanding
that the Senate president, Ken Nnamani, is not in good terms with Governor
Nnamani, President Obasanjo wants Senator Nnamani to feel good as he moves
against the governor so that he, too, would make him (Obasanjo) feel good
by helping in the impeachment of Vice President Atiku in the Senate.
Conferment of the second highest national honour, GCON, on the Senate
president is seen as another bribe to the Senate president.
In the case of Governor Boni Haruna of Adamawa State, Leadership Weekend
heard that the target is Atiku. Believing that Governor Haruna funds
Atiku’s presidential campaign and wanting to cripple it, the presidency
has perfected plans to get the Adamawa State governor impeached.
To get at Governor George Akume of Benue State, Obasanjo sent the EFCC to
the state. As for Governor Kure of Niger State, security men were directed
to check all of his bank accounts exactly 14 days ago. Though they found
nothing tangible against him, it was gathered that the president still
wants him to be impeached. He has asked security agents to find the
connection between IBB’s campaign and the governor, who currently is the
arrowhead of the “IBB for president” campaign. But the president must have
forgotten that a certain “loyal” governor in the South-South sponsored the
wedding of his (Obasanjo’s) son, Olumuyiwa, a few months, with N250
million of his state funds. |
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