By Pascal Ibe
Tensions have continued to rise in Rivers State after the House of Assembly began an Impeachment move by issuing a notice accusing the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, of alleged misconduct.
Twenty-six members of the assembly made the misconduct allegation against Fubara in a notice sent to the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, on Monday.
According to the lawmakers, their action follows “Section 188 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and other existing laws.”
They accused Fubara of several offenses, including reckless and unconstitutional spending of public funds and obstructing the Assembly’s activities, among others.
What Is Impeachment?
Impeachment is when elected government officials such as the President, Vice-President, Governors, and Deputy Governors are lawfully removed from office before the end of the tenure of office if found guilty of gross misconduct.
The legislative arm of government in a nation is saddled with the responsibility of impeaching government executives who are found guilty of gross misconduct.
The process of impeaching a state governor in Nigeria is contained in Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution.
Under certain terms and conditions, a Governor may be replaced by another, for example, through death, impeachment, or if an election is annulled.
Here are the Processes below:
1: A written allegation of gross misconduct against the governor must be signed by at least one-third of the members of the State House of Assembly and presented to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.
2: Within seven days, the Speaker of the House of Assembly is expected to serve the state governor with a copy of the notice of allegation.
3: The governor has a right to reply to the allegatileveledled against him. The state lawmakers must be served each with the response from the governor.
4: Within 14 days of the presentation of the notice to the Speaker of the House, they shall resolve by motion without any debate whether or not the allegation shall be investigated.
The motion must be passed by at least a two-thirds majority of all members of the State House of Assembly.
5: If the motion fails to get two-thirds, the process shall be halted. If the required votes are met, then the Speaker shall, within 7 days of the passing of the motion, request the Chief Judge of the State to appoint a Panel to investigate the allegations.
Members of the panel should not have a political affiliation
6: Within three months, The panel is expected to report its findings to the State House of Assembly.
During the proceedings of the Panel, the Governor shall have a right to defend himself or have the right to be defended by a legal practitioner.
7: Where the allegations of gross misconduct against the governor can not be proven, the impeachment proceedings shall end right there.
If the allegations can be substantiated, the House of Assembly shall consider the report and a resolution for adoption of the report shall be moved.
8: At least two-thirds of members of the House of Assembly must vote in support of the resolution to be adopted and the governor shall be impeached while his motion to swear in his deputy shall be moved immediately and adopted.
The History Of Impeachment in Nigeria
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Alhaji Balarabe Musa
In 1979, Alhaji Balarabe Musa was elected the governor of Kaduna on the platform of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) with the late Mallam Aminu Kano, a grass-root politician based in Kano, as founder of the Party. However, the Kaduna State House of Assembly was populated by members of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
As Governor he was stalemated by the Kaduna State House of Assembly, which was dominated by NPN members. He was unable to form a cabinet since he refused to nominate NPN members and the House refused to ratify his candidates. Eventually, the House impeached him in June 1981, making him the first Nigerian state governor to be impeached.
Joshua Dariye’s
Joshua Dariye’s run as Plateau State governor and as a politician has been nothing short of dramatic. He won his first election as governor in 1999 and again in 2003, which is when things started to get interesting.
President Obasanjo accused the governor of failing to manage a religious crisis that caused bloodshed in the state, declared a state of emergency, and suspended Dariye in May 2004.
While on suspension, British police officers arrested the governor in a London hotel in September 2004. They charged him with money laundering but released him on bail and he simply never returned.
He fled back to Nigeria just in time to resume office when the state of emergency expired in November 2004. But this isn’t how Dariye’s story ends.
Plateau State lawmakers impeached Dariye in November 2006 on suspicion of corruption. He disappeared into hiding, from where he fought his impeachment which was invalidly carried out by only six of the state’s 24 lawmakers.
He won the case and returned to the Government House again in April 2007, just one month before the end of his second term. But this isn’t the end of Dariye’s story.
Immediately after he lost his immunity as governor, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) started prosecuting him for stealing over ₦1 billion from the state’s treasury. Despite his criminal case, he went on to win senatorial elections in 2011 and 2015. But his luck finally ran out in 2018 and an FCT High Court sentenced him to 14 years in prison. That’s still not the end of Dariye’s story.
Dariye appealed his sentence, and the Supreme Court reduced it to 10 years. And because Dariye never gives up, President Buhari granted him a presidential pardon in April 2022. He has since been released.
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was also serving his second term as Bayelsa State governor when police officers arrested him in London for money laundering in September 2005.
The police found more than £1 million in cash in his London home but still granted him bail. This decision turned out to be a mistake.
He returned home to impeachment breakfast and was immediately arrested for corruption. He later pleaded guilty to six charges of corruption and was jailed for two years on each count. Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy governor who went on to become president, controversially granted him a presidential pardon in 2013.
He died of cardiac arrest two years later.
Ayo Fayose
Ayo Fayose is remarkable for being the first governor in Ekiti State to serve two terms, but he didn’t complete his first one because he was dragged out of his chair through impeachment.
Fayose won his first election in 2003, but Ekiti lawmakers removed him from office in October 2006 over corruption allegations. They accused him of diverting state funds to do la vida loca for himself and his family.
His deputy, Biodun Olujimi, was also impeached, so the lawmakers swore in the House Speaker, Friday Aderemi, as acting governor instead. This caused a constitutional crisis and forced President Obasanjo to declare a state of emergency, swearing in Tunji Olurin as Ekiti’s sole administrator.
Fayose fled Nigeria while the impeachment process concluded and didn’t return until the heat on him died down. He contested for the governor’s seat again in 2014 and won.
In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the lawmakers didn’t impeach Fayose in a valid process.
Peter Obi
Peter Obi is the first Nigerian governor to win his mandate through the courts. INEC declared Chris Ngige the winner of the 2003 Anambra State governorship election but Obi contested it in court.
When he won three years later, he took office in March 2006. But lawmakers impeached him seven months later for alleged misappropriation of funds and booted him out of office. But he didn’t stay down.
Obi ran back to the courts and won yet again for a triumphant return to office in February 2007. But when Andy Uba won the 2007 governorship election, Obi had to vacate once again in May 2007.
He went to the courts, again, to argue that he was entitled to four years as governor starting from 2006 when he assumed office.
This is probably how he addressed the courts every time he returned there
The Supreme Court agreed with him again, and he returned to office in June 2007, where he remained till 201,4 when his second term expired.
Rasheed Ladoja
Rasheed Ladoja won the 2003 Oyo State governorship election on the back of support from the influential Lamidi Adedibu. When the two fell out later, lawmakers impeached the governor in January 2006.
He challenged the impeachment and won at both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. This allowed him to return to the governor’s seat in December 2006, but he failed to win his party’s ticket for a second term. Attempts to contest for a second term in 2011 and 2015 also met brick walls.
Ladoja faced the customary probe from the EFCC, but he beat his ₦4.7 billion fraud case and the court acquitted him after 11 years of trial in 2019.
Murtala Nyako
Murtala Nyako’s two terms as governor of Adamawa State governor isn’t any less dramatic than any of the other governors on this list.
He won his first election in 2007, but the Election Petition Appeal Tribunal annulled his victory in 2008 due to electoral malpractices.
Nyako won the election again and returned to office two months later. But the state’s House of Assembly made impeachment moves against him. He survived the plot and even won re-election in 2012. But he was back on the chopping block two years later.
The House of Assembly accused the governor of mismanagement, investigated him, found him guilty of gross misconduct, and impeached him in July 2014.
The Supreme Court later overturned the impeachment in 2016 but didn’t reinstate him to office.
