Zamfara Assembly: Why We Want to Impeach Yari

  •  DSS arrests speaker, others

The Zamfara State House of Assembly wednesday listed five offences allegedly committed by Governor Abdulaziz Yari, which prompted it to mull impeachment proceedings against him.

A statement issued in Gusau by the Chairman of the assembly’s Committee on Information, Alhaji Mannir Gidan-Jaja, accused the governor of misappropriating billions of naira from the state coffers.

It listed the money allegedly misappropriated to include N11 billion bailout funds, N1 billion agricultural loan released to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and “corrupt abuse of local government funds.”
The assembly, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), also accused the governor of failing to remit funds deducted for pensions and gratuities to pension fund administrators as provided by law.

According to the statement, the governor had also ignored a resolution of the assembly not to appoint Alhaji Murtala Jangebe as Chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

It said the assembly had passed a vote of no confidence in Jangebe, after he was allegedly found to have misappropriated over N1 billion belonging to the board in 2014.

The statement accused the governor of frequent foreign trips which have had negative impact on the day-to-day running of government, apart from imposing financial burden on the state.

Meanwhile, operatives of the DSS have arrested Sanusi Rikiji, speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, over an alleged plot to impeach Abdulaziz Yari, governor of the state.

Rikiji and some members of the assembly are currently being detained in Abuja.

Those said to be detained along with him are Muhammad Gumi, Deputy Speaker; Isah Abdulmumini, Majority Leader; and Abdullahi Dansadau, the Chief Whip.

Reacting, other lawmakers condemned the arrest of their colleagues, and urged the President Muhammadu Buhari to caution the agency against further interference in the matter.
“We are also demanding the unconditional release of our principal officers who are currently under detention with the DSS in Abuja,” the statement read.

Yari is the current chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).

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