President Goodluck Jonathan unsuccessfully tried to settle the dispute between the Nasarawa State lawmakers and Governor Umaru Al-Makura, the Minority Leader, Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Tanko Maikatako, said on Wednesday.
Mr. Maikatako said the president appealed to the lawmakers to opt for dialogue rather than impeach Mr. Al-Makura, but that the legislators insisted on removing the governor.
“The President’s efforts toward peace were not successful due to selfishness among the lawmakers”, Mr. Maikatako, who represents Lafia Central constituency, said in Lafia.
“The President met with us and appealed to us to go back and meet with the governor to iron out the issues, but the members refused,” he added.
Mr. Maikatako, a member of Mr. Al-Makura’s All Progressives Congress, APC, said he was very surprised at the development.
“We don’t know why it happened that way. If the president himself, the PDP leader in the country, appeals to his colleagues to return to Nasarawa, meet the governor to iron out issues, they should have come back”, he opined.
Mr. Maikatako said the lawmakers’ insistence on ignoring Mr. Jonathan’s peace offer snowballed into the political crisis. He accused the 20 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, legislators of being selfish.
“Their resolve to go ahead with the impeachment of Gov. Umaru Almakura was selfishly motivated,” said Mr, Maikatako, who said that the lawmakers did not have an iota of evidence to substantiate their claims against the governor.
“As it is, the lawmakers must come back. That was what Mr President advised them to do; they must meet the governor and iron out the issues”, he said.
He appealed to his colleagues to return to the state to tackle issues that were beneficial and had direct bearing on the lives of the electorate “instead of looking for ‘every trick’ to oust the governor”.
“It is not too late for us to achieve much for our people. Let the lawmakers come back so that we can continue our work.
“There are lots of executive bills that are of immense benefit to the electorate. We resumed yesterday (Tuesday), but they are nowhere to be found”, he said.
The investigative panel set up by the Chief Judge, Justice Umaru Dikko, to investigate allegations of gross misconduct levelled against Mr. Al-Makura, Tuesday, dismissed the allegations for lack of evidence as the lawmakers did not substantiate their claims.
(NAN)
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