Impeachment: Probe panel defies Nyako, begins sitting

Despite the public holiday declared by the Adamawa State Governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako (retd.), the seven-man panel set up by the outgoing Acting Chief Judge, Justice Ambrose Mammadi, began sitting in Yola on Monday.  Though the public holiday announced by Nyako was to cover Monday and Tuesday (today), but members of the panel commenced sitting at the popular Hotel J&J Holiday Villa in Yola, the state capital, amid tight security provided by both land and air troops.

When the governor announced the public holiday on Sunday, he said the period would be devoted to prayers by the citizens and civil servants in view of the insecurity in the state but many had believed the move was to stave off the impeachment process against him.  Adamawa is one of the three North-East states that have been under emergency rule since May 2013 following escalating violence by the terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram.