Court of Appeal voids Nyako’s impeachment
A Court of Appeal sitting in Yola on Thursday reversed the impeachment of Murtala Nyako as governor of Adamawa State.
A Court of Appeal sitting in Yola on Thursday reversed the impeachment of Murtala Nyako as governor of Adamawa State.
Mr. Nyako was removed on July 15, 2014, after 17 of 25 members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly adopted a report of a panel set up to investigate him for alleged corruption.
The report found the governor guilty of all the 16 allegations of gross misconduct.
But in its Thursday’s ruling, the Court of Appeal ruled that the impeachment of Mr. Murtala Nyako as governor of Adamawa state in 2014 was not done in accordance with the provision of the law.
In the lead judgment read by Justice Tunde Ayotoye, all the judges unanimously agreed that Mr. Nyako was not given fair hearing in the impeachment proceedings.
The judges said that the governor’s right was violated and declared all the process that led to the impeachment null and void.
The court ordered that Mr. Nyako be accorded all right of the office of the governor of Adamawa State through the period of office, and be paid all his entitlement as governor of the state while it lasted.
The court however, struck out Mr. Nyako’s appeal to be returned as governor of the state.
The judges ruled that his tenure as governor had elapsed.
The Court criticised the “impunity and arrogance” of the House of Assembly of Adamawa State and some politicians, in setting up a panel to investigate Mr. Nyako despite a court order against such move.
