The tenure of the acting Chief Judge of Adamawa State, Ambrose Mammadi, expired today, a few hours before he was due to inaugurate a seven-member committee to investigate whether Governor Murtala Nyako has committed impeachable offenses.
The Adamawa State legislature constituted the panel to look into allegations of gross misconduct leveled against Mr. Nyako.
Justice Mamadi, who was expected to swear in the panel tomorrow, began his acting appointment as chief judge on April 7, 2014. His three-month tenure as acting governor expires by midnight today—July 6, 2014 (Nigerian time).
A source in Adamawa State told SaharaReporters that it was unclear whether the acting chief judge would go ahead with swearing in the impeachment panel tomorrow.
In a curious development, a source told SaharaReporters that a contingent of soldiers had taken positions near and around the acting judge’s official residence. The source said the heavy presence of the military could mean that some interests were pressuring the chief judge to play a role in ensuring that the governor is impeached. But a security source in Yola, the state capital, claimed that the soldiers were posted to the judge’s residence to ensure that he would not be attacked by thugs hired by any of the competing political groups in the state.
Governor Nyako, who is serving his second term after his reelection on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Most of the members of the state assembly are PDP faithful.