GOVERNOR Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has picked a serving Senator Hassan Mohammed Nasiha Gusau as deputy governor following the impeachment of Mahdi Aliyu Gusau on Wednesday.
Nasiha, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was until the appointment representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly.
Gusau was earlier in the day impeached by the Zamfara State House of Assembly after 20 out 24 members voted in support of his impeachment.
The impeachment followed the submission of the report of the judicial panel of investigation, which found Gusau guilty of allegations levelled against him.
The panel’s report was read by the Speaker of the House of Assembly Nasiru Muazu Magarya and was subsequently adopted by the members.
The panel was headed by Oladipo Okpeseyi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
Okpeseyi said the panel’s report was based on evidence.
“We have done our duty with utmost integrity and diligence, and we have compiled this report based on the evidence we have gathered in the course of our duty,” he said.
The panel was inaugurated by the Zamfara State Chief Judge Kulu Aliyu to investigate allegations against Gusau.
The impeached deputy governor has been engaged in a running battle with Matawalle after he refused to join the governor in defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The ICIR had reported that a suit filed by Gusau to stop the House of Assembly from impeaching him suffered a setback at an Abuja Federal High Court on February 14 after the presiding Judge, Inyang Ekwo, refused his plea to make a definite pronouncement on maintaining the status quo.
Counsel to Gusau and the PDP E. C. Ukala had also prayed the court to, in the alternative, direct Mike Ozekhome, counsel to Matawalle, the Chief Judge of Zamfara State and the Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, to make an undertaking for maintenance of status quo.
Ruling on the matter, Justice Ekwo held that the application to maintain the status quo was not ripe for hearing, therefore refusing to grant Gusau’s request to stop the impeachment proceedings.
Meanwhile, the Zamfara State House of Assembly has declared that the impeached deputy governor was found guilty of all the allegations levelled against him.
Spokesman of the House of Assembly Mustafa Kaura disclosed this in a statement issued in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, on Wednesday.
“The House found him guilty of the offences levelled against him which were submitted earlier today in the House and subsequently read at the floor of the chamber by the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya.
“Magarya told the plenary that the committee set up to investigate the former Deputy Governor found him guilty of all the charges levelled against him and directed his colleagues to proceed with individual voting of affirmation for the Deputy Governor to be impeached as required by the law.”
The statement further explained that, while 20 out of 22 members voted in favour of the impeachment, the only PDP member of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Salihu Usman Zurmi “was conspicuously absent” during plenary.
A reporter with the ICIR
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