Gowon, Danjuma, others want Dariye back as governor
From Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna)
PROMINENT northern elders, including former Head of State Gen. Yakubu Gowon and the erstwhile Minister of Defence Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, have called on the Federal Government to reinstate Chief Joshua Dariye as the Governor of Plateau State at the end of the emergency rule.
The call was contained in a statement issued at the end of a conference of the Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NORSCEF) held at Arewa House, Kaduna at the weekend.
The group urged President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Assembly to return Dariye to his governorship seat to strengthen democracy in the state.
In the statement signed by the chairman of NORSCEF and former vice-chancellor of the University of Benin, Prof. Adamu Baike, the group also decried alleged discrimination against Christians in the Northern states where they are denied land for building of churches.
The statement urged all the state governments in the North to return mission schools taken over by them to their original owners.
The Northern Christian elders further called for the enhancement of the quality of education in the country and urged government to devote 25 per cent of its budget to education as recommended by the United Nations.
NORSCEF also called for the elimination of nepotism in employment, urged government to give manpower development a priority and provide soft loans to graduates to start their own enterprises.
In a paper delivered earlier by Baike, the veteran educationist pointed out that education should inculcate in its recipients moral uprightness and dignity of labour.
According to Baike, the missionary education in the North prepared them to be prudent and have respect for elders, saying that the elite today do not believe in Nigeria but what they can garner for themselves and their families.
The former vice-chancellor recommended the teaching of patriotism in universities as well as restructuring of the system to make it possible for graduates to do part of their studies in the villages to put into vigorous tests the lessons they have learnt.
The Federal Government last week asked Justice Steve Jonah Adah of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to compel Dariye to vacate office as governor.
The government argued that the suspended governor is in breach of the statutory provisions that prohibit office holders in the country from owning or operating foreign accounts.
But a team of lawyers for Dariye, led by Prof. Ben Nwabueze, urged the court to hold that under the existing statutes and the constitution, the President cannot suspend a serving governor.
He also urged the court to hold that once elected, a governor enjoys constitutional immunity from civil or criminal prosecution until such a time that he ends his term of office in accordance with the constitutional provisions.
The court fixed December 6, 2004 for judgment on the matter.
Nwabueze asked the court to hold that suspension from office of a governor being null and void and of no legal implication whatsoever is not one of the grounds for terminating the office of a governor.
The submission of the office of the Federal Attorney-General was made by Wole Aina who stated that Dariye had ceased to be governor and consequently is not covered by section 308 (1) of the 1999 Constitution which prescribes immunity from prosecution by any court of law.
Aina also argued that section 308 did not stop the Code of Conduct from prosecuting alleged offenders of its statutory provisions.
The Federal Government told the court: "Section 185 of the 1999 Constitution prescribes that all public office holders must declare their assets and should subscribe to the Code of Conduct for public office holders.
"Prohibition of operation of foreign accounts is a condition precedent for a public office holder to be legally protected. If the Code of Conduct finds him
guilty, he stands the chance of being removed. Trial before the Code of Conduct is neither a criminal nor civil trial but merely an investigative panel."
But Nwabueze faulted the submission of the Federal Government and insisted that Dariye could not be dragged before the Code of Conduct tribunal because he enjoys constitutional protection from prosecution.
He said: "It is unconstitutional, null and void to vest the trial, conviction and punishment for a criminal offence in a tribunal which is not one of the courts in which judicial power is, by section 6 of the Nigerian constitution vested.
"The power granted to the Code of Conduct by the Act Cap c15, to try and determine criminal charges and to impose punishments thereof, like fine or imprisonment, is null and void for inconsistency not with section 6 only but also with the guarantee of fundamental rights enshrined in sections 35 and 36."
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