The All Progressives Congress has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of bribing the members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly with $300,000 each to impeach the former Governor, Alhaji Murtala Nyako.
The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, levelled the accusation in Abuja on Wednesday at a news conference.
Odigie-Oyegun, a former governor of Edo State, said the removal of Nyako was fraught with discrepancies but it was all aimed at promoting the re-election bid of Jonathan in 2015.
He said in the first place, the accusations levelled against Nyako were offences he allegedly committed over five years ago while he was still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said the offences were brought to the fore because Nyako was now a member of the APC and obviously opposed to the re-election bid of Jonathan.
Odigie-Oyegun said: “What was Nyako impeached for?
“Offences he allegedly committed five years ago.
“Those offences were not impeachable when he was in the PDP.
“But the moment he decamped to the APC, they became impeachable.
“The entire ‘impeachment’ of Governor Nyako is so fraught with irregularities, bias, judicial contradictions and in violation of every procedural and constitutional provisions that it is the worst manifestation of impunity.
“We intend to mount an immediate and rigorous challenge to this gross injustice to the party and people of Adamawa State.”
Odigie-Oyegun said the Jonathan administration had also moved money into Nasarawa and Edo States to induce the lawmakers to impeach and remove Governors Umaru Al-Makura and Adams Oshiomhole respectively.
He said of the monetary inducements: “In Adamawa, each member of the State House of Assembly was allegedly given $300,000 as part payment to impeach Gov. Nyako; some N500 million has allegedly been moved to Nasarawa to induce the state’s lawmakers to impeach Gov. Al-Makura, and in Edo, each lawmaker has allegedly been offered N75 million to impeach Gov. Adams Oshiomhole.”
Odigie-Oyegun said such impunities by the President has continued unabated with the use of state machineries for the oppression of the opposition.
He cited the example of Borno State where the Maiduguri International Airport, which had been closed for what was termed security reasons, was used by a former Governor of the state, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, who announced his defection to the PDP from the APC on Monday.
He said: “In Borno, under the guise of ensuring security, the Maiduguri Airport has been closed for several weeks, hence the Borno Governor and the people of the state, including the pilgrims heading to lesser Hajj, have been forced to travel by road to Kano to board their flights.
“However, the reason for shutting the airport has suddenly vanished as the private plane bearing former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff was allowed to land at the airport on Monday, the same day the Governor had to travel by road to Kano to see his brother who was involved in an accident on the same road!
“Obviously, President Jonathan is fast turning Nigeria into George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where some animals are more equal than the others.
“Welcome to Nigeria of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, where the only people who are deemed to be true Nigerians are those under the umbrella of the PDP, where the only people worth protecting are PDP members!”
None of Jonathan’s spokespersons had reacted to the allegations as at press time.
The full text of the press statement by Odigie-Oyegun is available elsewhere on this news website.
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