Yari, Zamfara Assembly Reach Deal, Impeachment Threat Withdrawn

The Speaker of the Zamfara State Assembly, Sanusi Rikiji, yesterday said lawmakers in the state had withdrawn the impeachment threat against Governor Abdulaziz Yari.

Rikiji made the announcement in Gusau, the state capital, after a meeting of stakeholders.

The stakeholders included the governor, all the 24 members of the assembly and traditional rulers.

The traditional rulers were led by Attahiru Muhammad, the emir of Anka, who is also the chairman of the state Council of Chiefs.

The speaker told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the end of the meeting that the lawmakers gave the governor terms and conditions before they agreed to suspend the impeachment threat.

He said the intervention of traditional rulers and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state helped in addressing the issues that caused the face-off between them and the governor.

In a separate interview with journalists, Yari described the cause of the face-off between him and the legislature as “the handiwork of the devil.”

According to him, “The cause of the misunderstanding was addressed at the meeting and we have now agreed to put aside our differences and work together for the advancement of our state,” he said.

The lawmakers had threatened to impeach the governor for alleged abuse of budget implementation, misappropriation of bailout funds released to the state by the federal government.

Other reasons listed by the legislators included deductions from workers’ salaries and failure by Mr. Yari to pay the salaries of 1, 400 youths employed by the government two years ago.