22nd July, 2014
The Acting Governor of Adamawa, Ahmadu Fintri, on Monday distanced the presidency from the impeachment of former Govover Murtala Nyako by the state House of Assembly.
Fintri, who spoke to State House correspondents after his meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that Nyako was removed because “the man stole our money”.
He also dismissed allegations that the state lawmakers collected money to impeach Nyako and challenged those behind the allegation to produce evidence.
“Who gave the money? There has to be an evidence of the person who gave the money. In this country, people are used to whatever situation that happened; it is about money. Who gave the money?
“Nyako is not an opposition man. He only stole the mandate of the PDP into the APC. How did the President get involved in this local issue in Adamawa?
“The man has stolen our money. That is the bottom line of it.”
Fintri, who was the Speaker of the Adamawa House of Assembly, became acting governor following the removal of Nyako and the resignation of the Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari.
Media reports had quoted him as saying that by the impeachment of Nyako, he had succeeded in returning PDP’s stolen mandate in Adamawa.
He, however, denied that his comments prompted the removal of the former governor, saying that Nyako was impeached based on acts of misconduct.
He said that the acts of misconduct were proved by the Seven-man panel that investigated gross misconduct against the governor.
“You saw the allegations and they have been proved by the panel; so that cannot be the reason why we removed the man.
“There are so many other issues that we could not bring as part of the allegations that formed his removal.
“But definitely as a PDP man that has taken over as the acting governor in Adamawa State, I have to say that I have brought back to my party the stolen mandate by the former governor.”
On the purpose of his visit to the Villa, Fintri said he came to brief the President, who is the leader of this country, on the situation of things in Adamawa.
He said, “I came to see the President as the leader of this country to give him the details of the situation in Adamawa as the acting governor.
“Adamawa is calm and we are into confidence-building, having removed Nyako and the destruction of infrastructure and morale of our people, we have gone into building of confidence.
“We are trying to pay salaries of workers because for months, he did not pay their salaries, and that is what we are doing now.”