Operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) have arrested Sanusi Rikiji, speaker of the Zamfara state house of assembly, over an alleged plot to impeach Abdulaziz Yari, governor of the state.
According to Daily Trust, Rikiji and some members of the assembly are currently being detained in Abuja.
Those said to be detained along with him are Muhammad Gumi, deputy speaker; Isah Abdulmumini, majority leader; and Abdullahi Dansadau, the chief whip.
The remaining 20 members of the house have reportedly fled to Kaduna, where they issued a statement, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene.
In the statement, signed by Mannir Jaja, chairman of the house committee on information, the lawmakers accused Yari of abusing his office.
They also accused him of him of “crippling governance in the state through his constant travelling abroad”.
Some of the allegations against the governor are: “inadequate explanation of N1 billion commercial agriculture (CBN) loan, non-remittance of pension funds to pension administrators, non-remittance of 5 percent emirate councils funds, the gross misappropriation of bailout funds to the state by the federal government to settle workers’ salaries, including N10b for 2014 and N1.46b in 2016”.
Yari, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is the current chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).