By Clifford Ndujihe, Henry Umoru & Abel Daniel

LAFIA — The seven-man panel set up to investigate allegations of gross misconduct leveled against Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State by the state House of Assembly in a bid to impeach him from office, yesterday, dismissed the 16-count charge for lack of evidence.

Gov. Al-Makura

The investigating panel led by Mr. Yusuf Usman arrived at the decision following the refusal of the State Assembly to appear before the panel to give evidence in prove of their allegations.

The Assembly had earlier petitioned the Chief Judge, Justice Umar Dikko, who constituted the panel asking him to dissolve the panel on the ground that two members were card carrying members of a political party while another member was a board member of the Nasarawa State Christian Pilgrim Board contrary to sub section 188 (5)

At the first sitting of the panel, Monday, the Assembly refused to show up to present their evidence prompting the panel to issue another hearing notice served on the Assembly to appear, yesterday.

Appearing before the panel, Mr. Ocha Olegede, who led other lawyers for the assembly said: “We are appearing before the panel in protest because the House had submitted a petition to the Chief Judge, Justice Umar Dikko challenging the constitution of the panel. The constitution of the panel is in breach of 188 (5) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

“The House of Assembly is challenging the membership of some members of the panel on the grounds that they are members of a political party and hence should disqualify themselves as members of the panel. I urge the panel in view of the above to disqualify itself from conducting the proceeding.”

The Assembly further faulted the panel for formulating rules of procedure contrary to the provisions of section 188 (7) (8) of the constitution.

Mr. Olegede submitted that the assembly’s legal team only appeared before the panel to honour the notice served on the Assembly and that the House of Assembly “does not intend to and would not be part of the proceedings of the panel” and therefore, urged the panel to allow them to leave.

The panel, however, refused to grant Mr. Olegede and his team permission to leave until counsel to the governor has responded to his submissions and the panel had ruled on the very fundamental issue raised.

In his submissions, Chief Udechukwu Udechukwu, SAN, argued that from the submission of the counsel to the House of Assembly, it was clear that there was not only proof of service, but acknowledgment of service coupled with appearance of the legal team on behalf of the Assembly.

“The conduct of the Assembly in the present circumstances clearly establishes an abandonment of their allegation leveled against the governor,” he said, and therefore, urged the panel to dismiss the entire allegations submitted by the Nasarawa State House of Assembly against Governor Al-Makura in the notice of impeachment dated 14th July, 2014 and published in the Daily Trust newspaper of 17th July, 2014.

He submitted that failure by the Assembly to provide rules for procedure to guide the panel has rendered proof of the allegations impossible and asked the panel to dismiss each and every allegations contained in the notice of impeachment and submit its report to the Nasarawa House of Assembly in compliance with section 188, 7b of the constitution.

The panel in its resolution stated that the grounds of protest as stated by the counsel to the Assembly raised allegations of serious breach of the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It said: “It is beyond the powers of this panel to resolve this issue. We are, therefore, of the view that this matter can only be resolved by a court of competent jurisdiction. We, therefore, refrain from deciding on the merit or otherwise of that issue.

“Secondly, the panel also refers to the provision of section 7c of the guideline dated 4th July, 2014 and which we have also served on both counsel. The section provides that where the House of Assembly fails or neglects to appear and lead evidence in proof of the allegations, the panel upon proof of service may dismiss the allegations.

“The panel which though may proceed under subsection c of the guidelines to dismiss the allegations as Mr. Udechukwu asked us to do today, the panel decided not to proceed as suggested.

“The decision by the House not to appear before the panel simply means the Assembly would not present any evidence before the panel to assist in the final report of the panel.”

The panel, therefore, dismissed the allegations against the governor for want of diligent prosecution.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday hailed the panel over its decision saying the era where the ruling political party used impeachment to get rid of the opposition was over.

According to him, the decision was a real life vindication of the All Progressives Congress, APC as a party of the people that creates and cherishes good governance.

Speaking with some Journalists shortly after his arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, yesterday, the former Vice President said, “the era where a political super power will arbitrarily use impeachment as a mechanism to get rid of political opposition is over.”

National Chairman of the Citizens Popular Party (CPP) and Publicity Secretary of the Inter‑Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Chief Sam Eke, also said the panel’s clearance of Al‑Makura shows that the governor has nothing to hide.

“The man is performing and is in good terms with his people. In spite of the immunity clause, which shields him, he still appeared before the panel because his hands are clean. He was not afraid to go to equity with clean hands. The lawmakers should concentrate on things that will better the lot of those who elected them instead of going after a man, who has five months to leave office.”