10.21.2006

The chief judge, however, explained to newsmen on Thursday that he was not delaying action on the matter, having only been served with the notice on Monday, even though the letter was dated October 13.

Dakyen said he was still within the seven working days time frame allowed him by law to constitute a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations against Dariye.

The chief judge is, under Section 188 of the 1999 constitution, required to within seven working days of the receipt of a notice of impeachment, name a panel to investigate the allegations against the governor with a view to determining his guilt or otherwise.

Dakyen, who also confirmed he had started work on constituting the panel, said his work would not be impeded by the suit filed by some members of the House of Assembly challenging the legality of the sitting of the Dapialong group.

Before now, Dariye has said that he's yet to receive the impeachment notice. But the chief judge's claim is hereby put an end to Dariye's assertion.

The battle to get Dariye impeached has been a long drawn one. After he jumped bail in London over charges of money laundering, the EFCC has since established that the governor has corruptly used the state funds to enrich himself.

While the kite of allegations was flying in different direction against the governor, he came out to defend himself, saying he did not spend the ecological funds alone. He said part of it was donated to the presidential campaign of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003. The presidency, of course, refuted such brazen allegation.

The quest to impeach Dariye pitched him against the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu. But the EFCC intervened and arrested the leadersahip of the state House of Assembly on the ground that they were also beneficiaries of the governor's loot. When the EFCC released some of the state lawmakers, the first assignment was to get Dariye impeached.

But this came with resistance from Dariye group. In fact, Mantu's house and other properties were torched by Dariye's group last weekend. Only eight members out of the 24 lawmakers volunteered to carry out the impeachment exercise.

That's the basis of the cat and mouse game between the lawmakers and the executive arm of the state government. The eight lawmakers have been sitting under tight security with Dariye claim ing non-receipt of the impeachment notice from the chief judge.

Meanwhile, the scheduled sitting of the eight legislators could not hold on Thursday as the members failed to turn up in spite of the overwhelming presence of security agents.

The security operatives, who cordoned off the assembly complex area early in the morning, gradually withdrew when it became clear that the legislators were not coming.