Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State has been a centre of attention, not necessarily because a gubernatorial election is pending in the State and will be held on November 16, next month to be precise. A Deputy Governor has been steamrolled out of office and a new one has been railroaded into his position.

On Friday last week, the State Assembly received the report of an investigative panel appointed to look into five allegations of gross misconduct leveled against Achuba, the erstwhile incumbent Deputy Governor. The panel in its report exonerated Achuba of any wrong-doing. In short the panel concluded that all the five allegations against the Deputy Governor could not be substantiated.
If Achuba was pleased with the panel’s verdict, he must have underestimated the velocity of the hurricane blowing towards his direction. The State Assembly that authorized the investigation of the Deputy Governor did not find itself bound by the outcome of the exercise. It went ahead to impeach him anyway.

On Monday, Edward Onoja, until recently the Chief of Staff to the State Governor, Yahaya Bello was sworn in as successor to Achuba. Meanwhile Onoja has been positioned to serve as Bello’s running mate in the November 16 gubernatorial election in which the Governor is seeking second term in office.

The brazen behaviour of the Kogi State House of Assembly is receiving condemnation from many angles. Achuba himself immediately said that the action of the State Assembly would not stand. In all probability he will challenge his impeachment and removal from office in the law courts. The opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP has said that the process that kicked Achuba out of office is flawed. A lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joe Agi told Channels television last night that it was unconstitutional for the Kogi State House of Assembly to take further step beyond the report of the panel that cleared Achuba of the allegations placed before it. The embattled Deputy Governor said that he has not received salaries and allowances due to him in the last two years. Now all the paraphernalia of his office have been taken away from him. He is sounding like someone who is standing all alone to face his formidable ‘adversaries’.

The Governor’s camp is upbeat about the fate of the former Deputy Governor. Supporters of the Governor have accused Achuba of disloyalty to Bello. He is said to have antagonized the Governor who gave him the position that he occupied. Achuba himself did not hide the cause of the schism between him and the Governor when he admitted that they had disagreed on some policy matters.

How will this matter play out? Achuba will like to be vindicated. Constitutional lawyers will want the issue to be tested in court for purposes of justice and precedence. The Nigerian Bar Association has just waded into the situation. It has rejected what it called purported removal of Achuba as Kogi State Deputy Governor. Politicians may ordinarily have the desire to find out who laughs last. Let’s wait and see.