Impeachment bid: Nyako accuses FG of freezing Adamawa accounts

• Lawmakers disappear, as police warn against incitement
• Intervene now, APC govs urge Jonathan

From Umar Dankano,Yola.

Following the impeachment notice served on the Adamawa state governor, Admiral Mutala Nyako, and his deputy, Barrister Bala Ngilari, on Wednesday, the state government yesterday accused the federal government of  directing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to freeze all bank accounts being operated by the state government.

This is coming as there were reports that the members of the state House of Assembly relocated from the state to Abuja, after directing the Clerk to serve Nyako and his deputy the impeachment notices.

But, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors’ Forum, who is also the Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, has advised the Adamawa state House of Assembly to halt the  impeachment move just as he called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the impasse.

Apart from the order to freeze the state government accounts, it was also alleged that security agencies have been ordered to monitor the state governor’s movements.

According to Nyako’s image maker, Mallam Ahmad Sajoh, the latest development only confirmed the efforts by President Jonathan to victimize his political opponents.

“The freezing of government bank accounts directive by federal government is just another step in the series of harassment and victimization of not only political opponents but the people of Adamawa State. We are approaching the Ramadan fasting period and definitely the federal action will affect salaries of workers and other social services”, he stated.

Sajoh alleged that the master minds of the harassment of political opponents and genuine democrats, who hold different opinions, were bent on creating chaos in the polity in order to truncate Nigeria’s democracy.

He argued that the lawmakers have no right to serve Nyako with an impeachment notice that include  allegations on activities conducted between 2007 and 2011, because the present Assembly came in  2011.

Meanwhile, the people of Adamawa state have expressed reservations over the impeachment notice to Nyako, because most of the lawmakers were said to fled the state and relocated to Abuja.

The lawmakers’ decision to leave the state, according to sources, may not be unconnected with the fear of possible attacks by some hoodlums against the background of growing protests by some people in the state.

The source said there were suspicions that the lawmakers were acting the script of some external forces.

 Our correspondent in Yola contacted said some personal aides to the lawmakers reliably told  him their principals fled to Abuja although others denied the fleeing allegation.

Commenting on this development, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC,  Rev. Phineas Padio, accused the lawmakers of doing the bidding of their party and some external forces “hell bent on destabilizing Nyako’s administration ahead of 2015”.

In another development, the Adamawa state Police Commissioner, John Abakasanga, has warned desperate politicians in the state to avoid anything that will plunge the state into crisis.

He gave the warning in a press release issued by the command’s PPRO, DSP Othman Abubakar, where he reiterated the readiness of the police and other security agencies to maintain law and order in the state.

Meanwhile, Okorocha in a statement, urged President Jonathan to intervene in the matter and ensure that the impeachment move was brought to a halt, adding that with the present security situation bedeviling Adamawa state, it would be insensible for anybody to raise the issue of impeaching a governor of a state faced with a lot of security challenges.