Nasiha in, Gusau Out, as Zamfara Assembly Impeaches Deputy Governor

Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Onuminya Innocent

The Zamfara State House of Assembly, yesterday impeached the state’s Deputy Governor, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau.

Immediately Gusau was impeached, Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle of the state, nominated Senator Hassan Muhammad Nasiha as the new deputy governor, who has since been sworn in by the chief judge of the state, Justice Kulu Aliyu.

Interestingly, the impeachment is against a subsisting court order from a Federal High Court, Abuja, which ordered all parties in the suit before the court to maintain status quo ante pending the determination of the case

The face off between Mattawella and Gusau, started last year, when the governor defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) but he refused to defect along with him.

Although the deputy governor, son on a former National Security Adviser (NSA), was absent on Tuesday as the seven-man panel investigating alleged gross misconduct and abuse of office against him, the panel went ahead to close hearing.

The impeachment was conducted by 20 out of the 21 members of the assembly, who voted in favour of the motion. This happened three hours after the seven man panel submitted its report.

Seven witnesses appeared at the panel, headed by Justice Halidu Tanko, which began sitting at the State High Court 4, Gusau on Monday, February 21.

The deputy governor was not only absent, he was also not represented by any legal counsel throughout the sitting.

Speaking at the end of the sitting, Tanko lauded members of the public for their support during the two-day sitting.

Also, Justice Abdul Ibrahim (SAN), a member of the panel, assured of free and fair investigation.

“Our work will be strictly on constitutional procedure. We have given the parties opportunity to present their cases. We are going to embark on our deliberations; our timeframe is within three months. We will look at it critically and when the report is ready, we will present it to the state House of Assembly,” he said.

Meanwhile, the nomination of Senator Nasiha, THISDAY gathered, was made within minutes of the impeachment of the deputy governor.

The governor had sent a letter to the assembly, seeking the screening of Nasiha.

Speaker, Honourable Nasiru Muazu Magarya, read the governor’s letter at plenary on Wednesday.

The deputy governor-nominee was first elected a senator in 2007, and currently represents Zamfara Central in the National Assembly.

He lost his seat to Senator Kabiru Marafa in 2011, but returned to the red chamber in 2019,when the Supreme Court voided the elections of the candidates of All Progressives Congress, following their failure to conduct primaries in the state.

He was elected to the Senate the second time on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

However, reacting to the development, the Zamfara State chapter of Peoples Democratic party (PDP), has condemned the impeachment of Gusau .

Speaking to THISDAY in a telephone conversation, secretary of the party in the state, Farouk Ahmed Gusau, said the action of the state House of Assembly, whom he described as a puppet of Matawalle, was unlawful and capable of causing security breach in the state.

Ahmed further asked how a charcoal could call pot black, stressing that if the assembly was to investigate the deputy governor on financial impropriety, they should also investigate the governor, whom he said had collected unaccounted over thirty billion naira for security votes.

“One of the permanent secretary that was posted to the office of deputy governor that came to testify before the panel is a retired federal civil servant, so you can see their illegality,” he said.

Pointing out that the case was already in court, he stressed that the deputy governor would be vindicated and reinstated, and therefore, appealed to the judiciary to expedite action on the matter so that justice would take its course.