31st July, 2014
Members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly have rejected the seven-member panel constituted by the state’s Chief Judge, Suleiman Dikko, to investigate impeachment charges against Governor Umaru Al-Makura.
The lawmakers who met at Karu Locak Government Area near Abuja away from the House of Assembly Complex in Lafia, the state capital, to deliberate on the petition filed against the composition of the panel by a group, Nasarawa Concerned Citizens, accused the Chief Judge of not following the constitution in his composition of the seven-man panel.
The lawmakers asked the Chief Judge to reconstitute the panel.
Following fears that they might be attacked by supporters of Governor Umaru Al-Makura who have been protesting moves by the lawmakers of the state to impeach him, the lawmakers on Wednesday relocated to Karu Local Government Area, a remote area of the state to discuss the petition submitted against the state Chief Judge, Suleiman Dikko, over the composition of the seven-member panel raised to investigate allegations against the governor.
P.M.NEWS gathered from one of the lawmakers who did not want his name in print that fears of attack by Al-Makura’s supporters informed the relocation of the lawmakers from Lafia, the state capital, to Karu, which is nearer to Abuja.
The seven-member panel was set up by the Chief Judge following a directive by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-dominated House of Assembly as part of the impeachment process of the governor.
A-Makura who is a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to appear before the panel to defend himself against the allegations.
The APC also condemned the impeachment process and blamed the PDP and the presidency for initiating it.