According to Punch, the impeachment plot against the Niger State Governor, Aliyu Babangida, may have been stalled as the members of the state House of Assembly pushing for the governor’s removal have been paid N17m each.
Punch correspondent gathered that the lawmakers after receiving the N17m each were also promised by the state government that their other demands would soon be met.
Consequently, the lawmakers have decided to stop the impeachment move against the governor.
Though the Speaker, state House of Assembly, Isah Kawu, refused to comment on the issue when Punch correspondent sought his reaction to the development, sources at the assembly complex including lawmakers, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the development.
The speaker, who spoke to Punch correspondent on the telephone said, “I cannot speak on this issue on the telephone or anywhere on the matter.”
But one of the lawmakers confirmed this to one of the newspaper’s correspondents.
He said, “It was not as if the governor bribed us, it is our legal entitlements and we have a right to ask for it before the expiration of our tenure. We have been paid and calm has returned to the assembly complex.”
Asked whether it was true that the lawmakers had dropped the impeachment plot against the governor, the lawmaker said, “there is no need for it again.”
Another source in the state House of Assembly Complex told Punch correspondent that each of the lawmakers was paid N17m as part of the allowances they were being owed since February.
This development, the source, who is a worker in the assembly complex said, had brought calm to the House of Assembly complex as the state police command had withdrawn security operatives from the building. This, he added, had given the lawmakers free access into their offices. (Punch).