Chat212 - Power FM - The Federal Government on Thursday denied bankrolling the impeachment of the immediate past Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako.
The Federal Ministry of Finance described as untrue rumours making the rounds that the Federal Government paid each of the Adamawa lawmakers $300,000 (about N49.5m) each to ensure the removal of Nyako.
Paul Nwabuikwu, Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the ministry did not broker any of such deal with the lawmakers.
Reacting to the allegation on Twitter, Nwabuikwu engaged those peddling the statement online, asking them to identify those who negotiated the deal on behalf of the Federal Government.
“Did you broker the deal?” he charged at Bukola Ogunyemi, an online activist who pointed accusing fingers at the Federal Government on Twitter.
Absolving the Federal Government of any complicity in Nyako’s impeachment, Okonjo-Iweala’s aide said the ex-governor should accept full responsibility for his travails.
According to him, Nyako deserved the treatment he got from the members of the state house of assembly after failing to respond to the allegations of gross misconduct levelled against him.
“The Adamawa House of Assembly accused Murtala Nyako of stealing billions of Naira. Did he present any credible defence?
“Who said Adamawa House didn’t provide proof? Anyone who refuses to defend himself against such charges deserves whatever he gets,” Nwabuikwu argued.
He said the opposition All Progressives Congress should come to terms with the fact that they were gradually losing grounds and becoming unpopular in the Nigerian political climate.
“The term, ‘stomach infrastructure,’ was invented by the APC and progressive activists for the purpose of avoiding the question of ‘how did we become so unpopular?’” he said.
Also, a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has expressed satisfaction with Nyako’s impeachment, adding that he was looking forward to more casualties in the unfolding political scheming.
“Governor Murtala Nyako is gone. Governor Tanko Al Makura (Nasarawa State Governor) soon to go. Ali Modu Sheriff (former Borno State governor) leaves APC and joins PDP.
“Their ranks are breaking and they are getting weaker by the day. Our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is mighty in battle. Who can resist Him?” he wrote on Facebook.
But, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and member of the All Progressives Congress, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has said that the impunity being allegedly perpetuated by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration must not be allowed to continue unabated.
He said Nigerians must rise up and resist the replication of the Adamawa saga in Nasarawa State and, by extension, ensure the protection of “constitutional freedoms.”
“The ‘Jonathanians’ want to destroy Nigeria unless they retain their power to loot, sleep and do nothing. They have started what they can neither finish nor predict the end game.
“We will resist tyranny. We will confront impunity. We will protect our constitutional freedoms, no matter what it costs us personally or collectively.
“We will not be slaves to those that abuse power with impunity. We will stand up against them or die trying, as we have no other country but Nigeria!” el-Rufai wrote on his Facebook page.
Meanwhile, a former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, Chief Dele Momodu, has expressed dissatisfaction with the Presidency’s handling of the Chibok girls’ abduction.
He said he had watched with “wonderment” the manner in which the Federal Government continued to “fumble” over the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping.
According to him, Jonathan had failed to rise above distractions from his aides to show mercy and compassion on the “pitiful condition of our girls and their parents by meeting with their families.”
He argued further that it had always been a Nigerian culture that people visit families of the dead or parents in pain and anguish, and not invite them to your comfort zones to comfort them.
“It is the height of arrogance and insensitivity to invite the parents; quote me anywhere! President (Barack) Obama visited Boston at a time one of the terrorists was still at large! The title of Commander-in-Chief is not for fun; a hawk must be able to abduct chickens!
“The pain is worse when your girls are alive and you can’t find them; you imagine all sorts! I’ve never seen a country where we turn parents of victims into robots! Here is no politics: If the President can stop listening to fake advisers, he should have gone there (Chibok, Borno State) since Day One.
“Haba, to whom much is given, much is expected. The President should just do his job and lead by courage and fairness to all! All presidents beg to get the job; the citizens should not beg to get the desired service!
“The last time Britain got flooded, the Prime Minister brushed aside insults and joined in the rescue, including the royals! Presidents are not worshipped anywhere, it is the presidents who worship those who employed them! Presidents are hardly respected anywhere, and that’s not part of the job. Presidents respect themselves by doing the job admirably!”
