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Tag: Zamfara Deputy Governor

PDP to Challenge Removal of Zamfara Deputy Gov in Court
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it is working on plans to challenge the removal of Zamfara deputy governor, Alhaji Mahdi Aliyu, from office, by the state House of Assembly.
The party stated this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Debo Ologunagba, in Abuja.
Ologunagba said that the removal by the House was illegal and as such a nullity.
“The PDP is reviewing the actions in Zamfara in this violent assault on the rule of law and will take appropriate actions necessary.
“In any case, the PDP and the people of Zamfara will not allow the impunity being foisted on the state to stand and appropriate legal action is being taken in that regard.
“Fortunately, our party has implicit confidence in the judiciary, which has in the past demonstrated its capacity and ability to defend the Constitution and the rule of law,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the House had on February 22, removed Aliyu from office.
This followed the adoption of a motion by the Majority Leader, Faruku Dosara (APC -Maradun 1), at plenary in Gusau.
The motion came shortly after the House adopted the report of Justice Haladu Tanko panel, which investigated alleged gross misconduct and abuse of office against the deputy governor.
Speaker Nasiru Muazu, who presided over the sitting, directed the Clerk, Mr. Saidu Anka, to conduct a voice vote on the removal and 22 out of the 22 lawmakers present, voted in favour and the deputy governor was pronounced removed from office.
Governor Bello Matawalle and Aliyu assumed office office under the platform of PDP, but the governor defected to the All Progressives Congress ( APC) on June 28, 2021.
Their relationship became sour after Aliyu decided to remain in PDP.
February 26, 2022
UPDATED: Senator Hassan Confirmed As Zamfara Deputy Governor
The Zamfara State House of Assembly has confirmed Senator Muhammad Hassan Nasiha as the new deputy governor of the northwestern state.
His confirmation followed a screening by the lawmakers on Wednesday. The speaker of the House, Nasiru Mua’zu, had at the resumed plenary read a letter from Governor Bello Matawalle nominating Senator Muhammad as his deputy.
Hassan was nominated hours after Mahdi Gusau’s impeachment on Wednesday. Senator Hassan is representing Zamfara Central Senatorial district.
Gusau was impeached after the House received the report of a committee set up by the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Kulu Aliyu. The committee was set up probe allegations levelled against him.
The seven-man panel was led by Retired Justice Halidu Soba and had submitted its report to the State House of Assembly complex in Gusau, the state capital.
According to a member of the panel, Oladipo Okpeseyi, the committee carried out its assignment with integrity. The panel had commenced its sitting on Monday and ended proceedings the next day. But the embattled Gusau, who was the respondent, was absent.
Some of the allegations against him were a breach of the Constitution, gross misconduct, financial fraud, and abuse of office.
February 23, 2022
Zamfara Deputy Governor, Lawyer Absent As Impeachment Proceedings Begin
The Deputy Governor of Zamfara State Mahdi Aliyu was absent – alongside his lawyer – to stand in for him at the impeachment proceedings as a seven-man panel set up by the Zamfara State Chief Judge Kulu Aliyu to investigate the allegations leveled against him.
The Zamfara State House of Assembly is accusing the deputy governor Mahdi of misappropriation of funds, gross misconduct, and abuse of office among other things
The fact-finding panel is saddled with the responsibility to investigate allegations and submit a report to the Chief Judge; though no time frame is given to the panel to submit its report.
The deputy governor, who doubles as the respondent, is absent at the first sitting, and no counsel or person representing the deputy governor. The secretary to the panel Barrister Ashiru Tsafe told the fact-finding committee that he has served the deputy governor with all the necessary notices regarding his appearance before the committee via electronic, email address, Whatsapp and has also submitted scan copies of the delivery report
Counsel to the complainant Barrister Nasiru Jangebe presented seven witnesses for cross-examination before the panel
The first “complainant witness”, one Abubakar Mohammed, and the director-general and secretary to the state executive council, identified the documents he presented to the panel.
One of the documents was the notice of meetings served to the deputy governor. After careful checks of the documents, Abubakar Mohammed was discharged by the panel.
The second witness is the state head of service Kabiru Muhammad, who doubled as the secretary of Zamfara State economic development committee, has tendered in evidence the minute of the maiden meeting of the committee held at the office of the deputy governor on 15/02/2021. He affirmed that since the deputy governor did not instruct to convey another meeting of the committee.
But he told the panel that, as secretary of the committee, he has to call for a technical subcommittee meeting to discuss issues and design some road map regarding the activities of the committee.
It could be recalled that in January 2021 the governor constituted the state economic team committee headed by the deputy governor; the objective was to map out strategies for the restructuring of the economy of the state.
Another witness Shehu Mainasara, who is a retired Permanent Secretary at the office of the deputy governor, testified that the deputy governor has not been coming to office within the stipulated period. He said the deputy governor had been given “oral” directives through a telephone call.
When asked by one of the panelists whether “oral” directives are acceptable in the civil service rules, Mainasara said that has been the practice which he met upon his assumption to office as the Permanent Secretary to the Office of the Deputy Governor.
The sitting has been adjourned for thirty minutes and the Director of Finance in the office of the deputy governor is the next “complainant witness” after the resumption of the panel.
The panel has the following as members: Justice Halidu Tanko Soba (rtd) as Chairman, Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN), Abdul Atadoga Ibrahim (SAN), Hussaini Zakariya’u (SAN) others are Amina Tanimu Marafa, Sani Mande, and Ahmad Buhari Rabah while Barrister Ashiru Tsafe serves as the secretary.
February 21, 2022
Zamfara Chief Judge Sets Up Panel To Probe Deputy Governor
The Chief Judge of Zamfara State, Justice Kulu Aliyu, has inaugurated a seven-member panel to investigate the allegations against the Deputy Governor of the state, Mahdi Gusau, by the State House of Assembly.
Justice Aliyu constituted the committee on Monday at the request of the lawmakers following the impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor by the Assembly.
She, however, did not give a timeframe to the panel within which they were expected to complete the assignment and submit their report after the inauguration.
The assignment of the panel includes investigating the allegations of gross misconduct, financial fraud, abuse of office, and breach of the constitution against the deputy governor.
Channels Television had reported that 18 members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly unanimously resolved to direct the chief judge to constitute the panel to probe the allegations against Mr Gusau during an extraordinary plenary held last Thursday.
While setting up the team, Justice Aliyu revealed that she received a letter dated February 10, 2022, from the Speaker of the Assembly, requesting the constitution of the probe panel.
According to her, the use of the word ‘shall’ in Section 188(5) imposes a duty on her as the Chief Judge of Zamfara State to appoint a panel of seven persons who are of unquestionable character, integrity, and honesty to investigate the allegation against the deputy governor.
The chief judge called on the panel to work as a team and concentrate on the issues contained in the notice of allegation against the deputy governor.
In his remarks, the chairman of the investigative panel and a retired justice, Tanko Soba, promised to carry out their assignment in accordance with the constitution and ensure the embattled deputy governor was allowed a fair hearing.
The lawmakers in Zamfara have insisted that no going back in the bid to impeached Mr Gusau despite the court order restraining them from taking any action against the deputy governor.
While Mr Gusau has insisted that he has done no wrong, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) warned that the move to impeach the deputy governor could cause a crisis in the state.
February 14, 2022
Court halts impeachment of Zamfara Deputy Governor
Zamfara State House of Assembly have been restrained by a Federal High Court in Abuja from impeaching the Deputy Governor, Mahdi Gusau.
There have been claims of Zamfara lawmakers plotting to remove Gusau after he refused to join top politicians in the state including Governor Bello Matawalle in defecting to the All Progressives Congress from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Lawmakers in the state had been irked by a rally Gusau held with PDP members, days after Governor Matawalle and lawmakers in the state held a mass defection rally. They accused him of being insensitive by holding a rally after some killings in the state.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja who ruled on the case on Monday July 19, ordered the lawmakers not to remove Gusau.
July 19, 2021