Simon Achuba, the impeached Deputy Governor of Kogi state has declared he remains the Deputy Governor of Kogi state despite his impeachment.
This was made known through his legal counsel, Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), who spoke to newsmen, saying Deputy Governor Achuba has not been found guilty of the allegations levelled against him, therefore the impeachment was void.
According to Okutepa, “The case is in court. The case is coming up. We are going back to the court. Nigeria is a country that should be ruled by the constitution. We are not a jungle country.”
“There is no impeachment. From nothing, nothing comes. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand.”
Meanwhile, John Baiyeshea, the Chairman of the Panel, handling the investigation of the alleged gross misconduct against Achuba also spoke with The Punch correspondent in an interview. He stated that the allegations against Deputy Governor Achuba were unfounded as there was no proof to back them up.
According to Baiyeshea, Deputy Governor Achuba was innocent in the eyes of the law.
Baiyeshea said, “This is the most bizarre thing that I have ever heard in my life. We submitted the report to the Speaker around 1pm today and I left Lokoja for Abuja. I was at Gwagwalada area when one of the panel’s members who had not left Lokoja called to tell me that he saw it on television that the deputy governor had been impeached.
“As far as the report that we submitted to the House of Assembly is concerned, the committee returned the decision that all the allegations were not proved.
What the Constitution said by Section 188(8) is that, ‘once the panel returns a verdict like that. No further proceedings can be taken on it.’ That is it. It is only when the panel returns a verdict that allegations have been proved (to be true) that they can go ahead within 40 days.
“When did the House sit? We delivered the documents and the House was not even in session today, (Friday.) Assuming the House convened, you can see that less than one hour after we submitted our report.”