• Party chieftains offer N250m bribe to lawmakers
The last is yet to be heard about how Admiral Murtala Nyako was impeached as the governor of Adamawa State last week.
Facts emerged at the weekend that indeed, some chieftains of the former governor’s party, All Progressives Congress (APC), moved to save him.
A top official of the Federal Government who doesn’t want his name in print, said two APC governors approached the lawmakers, asking them to drop the impeachment charges against Nyako, but they failed. The APC chieftains didn’t know that they were being monitored by security agencies. In fact, the source said the Federal Governmrnt may have in its possession details of the deal on tape, an evidence that could be used against the chieftains.
Speaking to selected newsmen in Abuja, the source who said the APC chieftains risk arrest and prosecution, laughed off the allegations by former Lagos State Governor and APC leader, Bola Tinubu in his statement titled: “Jonathan’s unbridled ambition will destroy Nigeria’s democracy, as tyranny descends on Adamawa, democracy suffers”, said it was not proper for anybody to accuse the Presidency of being behind Nyako’s impeachment.
While advising any aggrieved person to take advantage of the court and seek redress, the source said information at the disposal of security agencies has recordings to prove that the unnamed APC leaders may have run foul of the law.
Giving details of the deal, the source said intelligence report showed that two APC governors, one from the North and the other from the South, approached some members of the House of Assembly with financial inducements of N250 million each for them to scuttle the move to remove the governor.
The source explained that out of the 25 lawmakers, five were with Nyako, while two travelled during the impeachment process. He said the APC governors (names withheld) succeeded in buying one lawmaker over, while attempts were made to buy one or two more, so that the number of lawmakers required for the governor to be removed, would not be achieved.
According to him, when it was clear to the APC chieftains that they would not be able to buy the lawmakers over, they resorted to threats.
“It was the assurance that they got from the lawmaker that more members would be bought over fuelled the reports that Nyako might resign.
“When it was clear to them that the money might not do the magic, they resorted to threats. They threatened some of the lawmakers that they would be killed if they did not collect the money and stop the impeachment process.
“What they don’t know is that all these are recorded. If they continue with their unfounded allegations against the President, the security agencies may bedirected to arrest them and confront them with overwhelming evidence”, the official said.