The Nigeria political landscape Tuesday added yet another dramatic scene to its exciting script with the impeachment of Murtala Nyako, the embattled governor of Adamawa State. Hours after he was removed by 18 members of the 24-member State Assembly, the Speaker of the House, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, was sworn in as acting governor. He would constitutionally act for not more than 90 days within which election would be conducted to fill the vacant position.

The removal of Nyako was not without some drama. Constitutionally, when a governor is removed from office, his deputy takes over but in the case of Adamawa, the deputy governor, Bala Ngilari, and the speaker hail from the same constituency and this hamstrings the emergence of the governor as acting governor going by Nigeria’s zoning principle. To stave off the chaos this might cause, the deputy governor who is a Christian was advised to resign by political heavyweights in the PDP to pave way for the Speaker’s emergence and give a free reign to Nyako’s removal. Between Monday night and Tuesday morning, the deputy governor was fully persuaded and he did as agreed. The deputy governor was not indicted by the investigative panel set up to probe Nyako’s leadership.

The removal of Nyako has kicked up reactions from the opposition. Mallam El-Ruffai of the APC alleged his removal was one among the many governors marked for removal from office by the PDP. Already the governor of Nasarawa State, Al-Makura, has been served impeachment notice.

But Nyako, moments after his removal, said he had accepted his fate but cautioned his political foes to be mindful of God’s judgment.

“Praise be to Allah, we accept what has happened. This is the judgment of man; we should all remember that there is God’s judgment in the hereafter,”Nyako said through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Ahmad Sajoh who stressed that Nyako had accepted his fate.

Members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly impeached the former governor after adopting the report of the seven-member panel that investigated allegations of gross misconduct against Nyako.

Both the governor and his deputy, Bala Ngilari, had been investigated but the deputy governor sent his resignation letter to the state House of Assembly few hours before the lawmakers voted out Nyako.

Nyako had also said on Tuesday that his deputy’s resignation remained a nullity because it did not follow constitutional procedure.

The ex-governor’s spokesman, in a statement, said, “We wish to state categorically that Section 306 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as Amended requires that the deputy governor resigns not to the House of Assembly but to the governor.

“As of the time the supposed resignation was said to have been tendered in the House, Murtala Nyako was the Governor of Adamawa State.

“No such letter was written to him, none was received by him and none was approved by him. It should therefore be known that in the eyes of the Law, the deputy governor has not resigned. Bala James Ngillari is still the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State.

“This clarification is necessary to avert another subversion of the Constitution since the other processes relating to the impeachment saga have all been in contravention of the Constitution and the Law.”

The statement cautioned that the continued abuse of the constitution and the laws of the land might spell doom for Nigeria’s democracy.

Nyako’s removal followed the adoption of the report of a seven-man panel earlier constituted by the former acting Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ambrose Mammadi, to investigate allegations of gross misconduct levelled against the governor and his deputy by the Peoples Democratic Party-led legislature.

The former governor has been a member of the All Progressives Congress since he defected from the PDP late 2013 alongside other ex-PDP governors Rotimi Amaechi, Rivers State; Musa Kwankwaso, Kano; Abdulfattah Ahmed, Kwara; and Magatakarda Wamakko, Sokoto.

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The investigative panel, which was headed by a retired judicial officer, Buba Kajama, found Nyako guilty of 16 out of the 20 allegations levelled against him.

Fintiri, who presided over the session, drew the attention of the members to Section 188 sub-section 9 of the country’s 1999 constitution, which stipulates that the House should consider the report of a panel by two-thirds majority and that if the House adopts the report, the governor or his deputy shall stand removed from office.

The Speaker said, “Based on the adoption of the panel report Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State shall stand removed from office.”

The member representing Gombi, Jerry Kundisi, moved the motion for the adoption of the report. He was seconded by the Deputy Speaker, Kwamoti Laori.

Kundisi quoted section 191, sub-section 2 of the constitution, which states that “if a governor is removed from office and office of the Deputy Governor is vacant, the Speaker of the House of the Assembly shall be sworn in as an acting Governor for the period of three months.”

After members unanimously adopted the report, the House directed the President of the Customary Court of Appeal to swear in the Speaker as an acting governor, since the state has no substantive or acting CJ.

Reactions have trailed the action of the state congress. Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar,  warned the PDP-led Federal Government against what he described as ‘‘excessive use of power’’, which Atiku said was not good for decent democratic practice.

The ex-VP, who was reacting to the impeachment of Nyako, said in a statement issued by his media office in Abuja that wielding the axe of impeachment against elected public office holders in order to settle scores by the Federal Government would needlessly build up tension in the country.

The statement said: “The reckless use of impeachment to settle scores could not have been the intention of the framers of the 1999 Constitution. The frequency with which elective officials were being shot down by impeachment would destroy the whole purpose of inserting the impeachment clause in the Constitution.

“The use of impeachment to harass and humiliate perceived opponents by the PDP-led Federal Government would ultimately bastardise the spirit in which the constitution provides for the impeachment clause… the constitution was not meant to provide ammo for anybody to harass and humiliate opponents or force them out of office.”

He also criticised the use of financial inducements to influence the removal of perceived opponents from office.

Ex-Governor of Kwara State, who is also a leader of the APC, Senator Bukola Saraki, described the impeachment of Nyako as unfortunate.

Saraki said, “It is very unfortunate and I think we are seven months to the end of the tenure. We all need to look at the bigger picture, look at the stability of our democracy. After Adamawa, I think Nasarawa State governor is being served with impeachment notice and three other states are going to be served.

“The bigger issue in this country now is the issue of security and poverty. Some of the issues raised against the Adamawa State governor can also apply anywhere and we need to be mature with our democracy.

“The issue of impeachment should not be our priority at this stage and those of us that love this country will really need to talk to ourselves and be more concerned about challenges before us instead of dissipating our energy on issues that will divide us by overheating the polity and creating problems for ourselves.

“We should talk about how to improve security and ensure better living conditions of our people. Those who are beating the drums now should know that it will come back to them.”