But the state government declared the sitting of the PDP lawmakers as illegal, having been convened outside of the recognised chambers of the Assembly. It also described the order asking the CJ to reconstitute the panel as unconstitutional: “If the lawmakers are aggrieved with the compliance of the state Chief Judge with the provision of Section 188, sub-section 5, the right thing to do is for the House to go to the court of law to challenge the composition of the seven- man panel,” Abdulhammid Kwarra said at a press conference in Lafia in reaction to the lawmakers’ directive.

Also, APC had supported the stand of the state governor, as it described the directive for reconstitution of the panel as “unreasonable, unconstitutional and way too late”.

Lai Mohammed, APC national publicity secretary, in a statement issued in Abuja on 31 July also noted that the lawmakers were either ignorant of the provisions of the constitution concerning impeachment in making the order or were just desperate.

The APC spokesperson said what Section 188 (5) of the Constitution required is that the members of the panel should, in the opinion of the CJ, be persons of integrity. “It is important to point out to the desperate lawmakers that the key words in that section is that the Chief Judge must appoint persons WHO IN HIS OPINION (emphasis ours) are of unquestionable integrity. At this juncture, it is neither the opinion of the Speaker nor that of the legislators that counts; it is the opinion of the Chief Judge,” said APC. “Therefore, neither the Speaker, the lawmakers nor the Chief Judge can dissolve the panel at this stage, and none of them can stop the impeachment process. Once the Chief Judge has appointed the panel under section 188 (5), he becomes functus officio, that is, he has no further powers on the matter.

“This is the situation of things at present and the lawmakers can only await the report of the panel,” it said. This magazine however gathered that apart from the impeachment, the lawmakers are also exploiting the option of using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against the governor. It was gathered that the lawmakers are compiling a petition which may be sent to the anti-graft agency to convince it to place embargo on the accounts of the state with commercial banks, just like it happened before the impeachment of Nyako. But in a countermove, Governor Al-Makura is also said to be ready to submit shady financial deals of the lawmakers to EFCC.