Constitutional Steps to Impeachment And PDP Dimensions

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended provides for the removal of a state governor in Section 188 as follows:

(1) The governor or deputy governor of a state may be removed from office in accordance with the provisions of this section.

(2) Whenever a notice of any allegation in writing signed by not less than one third of the members of the House of Assembly-

(a) is presented to the Speaker of the House of Assembly of the state;

(b) stating that the holder of such office is guilty of gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office, detailed particulars of which shall be specified, the Speaker of the House of Assembly shall, within seven days of the receipt of the notice, cause a copy of the notice to be served on the holder of the office and on each member of the House of Assembly, and shall also cause any statement made in reply to the allegation by the holder of the office, to be served on each member of the House of Assembly.

(3) Within 14 days of the presentation of the notice to the Speaker of the House of Assembly (whether or not any statement was made by the holder of the office in reply to the allegation contained in the notice), the House of Assembly shall resolve by motion, without any debate, whether or not the allegation shall be investigated.

(4) A motion of the House of Assembly that the allegation be investigated shall not be declared as having been passed unless it is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of the House of Assembly.

(5) Within seven days of the passing of a motion under the foregoing provisions of this section, the Chief Judge of the state shall at the request of the Speaker of the House of Assembly appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not being members of any public service, legislative House or political party, to investigate the allegation as provided in this section.

(6) The holder of an office whose conduct is being investigated under this section shall have the right to defend himself in person or be represented before the panel by a legal practitioner of his own choice.

(7) A panel appointed under this section shall-

(a) have such powers and exercise its functions in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly; and

(b) within three months of its appointment, report its findings to the House of Assembly.

(8) Where the panel reports to the House of Assembly that the allegation has not been proved, no further proceedings shall be taken in respect of the matter.

(9) Where the report of the panel is that the allegation against the holder of the office has been proved, then within 14 days of the receipt of the report, the House of Assembly shall consider the report, and if by a resolution of the House of Assembly, supported by not less than two-thirds majority of all its members, the report of the panel is adopted, then the holder of the office shall stand removed from office as from the date of the adoption of the report

It follows, therefore, that the following steps must be taken for any successful impeachment to take place:

Step 1

A notice of any allegation in writing alleging gross misconduct on the part of the governor. This notice must be signed by not less than one-third of the members of the state House of Assembly is presented to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly.

The constitution defines gross misconduct as ‘…a grave violation or breach of the provisions of this Constitution or a misconduct of such nature as amounts in the opinion of the National Assembly to gross misconduct.’

Step 2

The Speaker of the state House of Assembly must within seven days, serve the governor and each member of the state House of Assembly with a copy of the notice of allegation.

Step 3

The governor has a right of reply, and any such statement in reply to the allegation must be served on each member of the state House of Assembly.

Step 4

Within 14 days of the presentation of the notice to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, the state House of Assembly shall resolve by motion without any debate whether or not the allegation shall be investigated. This motion needs to be passed by at least two-thirds majority of all members of the state House of Assembly.

Step 5

If the motion fails to reach the required majority, the process immediately stops, and no further action will be taken. However, if the required majority is obtained and the motion is passed, then the Speaker of the state House of Assembly will within seven days of the passing of the motion, request the Chief Judge of the state to appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity to investigate the allegations. The members of the panel cannot be members of any public service, legislative house or political party.

Step 6

The panel is to report its findings within three months of being appointed. The findings will be reported to the state House of Assembly. During the proceedings of the panel, the governor shall have a right to defend himself, and shall also have the right to be defended by a legal practitioner of his/her choice.

Step 7

Where the panel reports that the allegation has not been proven, there will be no further action. However, if the report is that the allegation against the governor has been proven, then the state House of Assembly will consider the report, and a resolution for the adoption of the report shall be moved.

Step 8

For the resolution to be adopted, it must be supported by not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of the state House of Assembly. Once adopted the governor shall stand removed from office as from the date of the adoption of the report.

PAST POLICE ABUSE

Chris Ngige

The first executive governor of the Fourth Republic to taste the bitter side of the use of federal might was Chris Ngige. Helped to office as governor of Anambra State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by Chris Uba, a political godson of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Ngige soon fell out with his godfathers, barely two months into his tenure.

On July 10, 2003, heavily armed policemen, under the command of AIG Ige from his operational base in Umuahia, invaded the Government House, Awka, the state capital and seized Ngige under the pretext that he had resigned from office.

It turned out that the letter of resignation was forged and it took a huge public outcry before he could retrieve his office. He didn’t laugh last though as in August 2005, an election tribunal led by Justice Garba Nabaruma nullified Ngige’s 2003 victory. He appealed to Court of Appeal, but the annulment was confirmed on March 15, 2006, in a judgment awarding victory to Peter Obi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Rashidi Ladoja

It was the turn of Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo State in January 2006. Again, he was a PDP governor who had fallen out with Obasanjo. Using Ladoja’s erstwhile godfather, Lamidi Adedibu, a push to oust him from office began.

There was a problem though. Ladoja had an upper hand in the House of Assembly and the dissident legislators were short of the numbers required to impeach him. His resistance, however, collapsed spectacularly in the face of massive police support for the dissident legislators who on January 12, 2006 removed him from office in an early dawn meeting that started by 5a.m. The entire proceedings lasted less than 20 minutes.

He would later get reprieve from the Court of Appeal, which annulled the impeachment and restored him to office. But he would not get his seat back till December 12, 2006 one clear month after the Supreme Court had upheld the judgment of the appellate court below.

Peter Obi

Peter Obi’s fate had a comical twist. He had displaced Ngige in March 2006 through a court judgment that awarded him the 2003 governorship election.

He had hosted Obasanjo, who told him during a state visit, to forget re-election in 2007 if he did not join the PDP because he (Obasanjo) would not support a non-PDP member. And true to Obasanjo’s postulations, a day after the visit, Obi was impeached on November 2, 2006, after seven months in office.

The lawmakers had reportedly met with representatives of Obasanjo in Asaba, Delta State and then accompanied to Awka by heavy security provided by the police Mobile Unit.

The House of Assembly members arrived Awka at 5a.m. and began sitting afterwards. They received the report of a panel of investigation set up to investigate the governor and, after deliberating for about an hour, decided to impeach Obi.

It took many months of legal battles before he could retrieve his mandate.

Joshua Dariye

It was the turn of another PDP governor, Joshua Dariye of Plateau State to face unconstitutional removal from office.

In early October 2006, eight of the 24 state House of Assembly members issued an impeachment notice against Dariye. In his defence, he stated that the notice was invalid as the eight did not form a quorum of the assembly.

A crowd of his supporters tried to prevent the assembly members from entering the state assembly building. Riot police then fired into the crowd, killing two protesters.

Again the resistance collapsed in the face of massive police deployment that aided five of the 24 legislators to impeach Dariye on November 13, 2006.

On March 10, 2007 the Court of Appeal ordered him reinstated but could not return to office until 27 April, 2007 when the Supreme Court affirmed his reinstatement with immediate effect.

Conclusion

Since President Olusegun Obasanjo left office 11 years ago incidence of Police abuse against governors have abated, until Monday