A day after his pupported resignation from office, insider information is indicating that Mr James Ngillari, who until Tuesday was the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State, was made to resign under duress.
Sources close to Ngillari’s office who disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Yola at his private residence yesterday narrated that the Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr Kwamoti Laori, had led a truck-load of military personnel to the official residence of the deputy governor and compelled him to write his letter of resignation which should be addressed to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly.
According to the source, Laori had claimed the order for the deputy governor to resign came from above.
Indeed, the then Speaker of the assembly, Alhaji Umar Fintirin, had read a letter purportedly written by Ngillari announcing his resignation from office. The lawmakers promptly accepted his resignation.
But Ngillari is arguing that he was compelled under military threat to write the letter, pointing out that a proper letter of resignation from him should be addressed to the governor of the state and not the Speaker of the House of Assembly, as stipulated by the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended..
Speaking at his new residence in Yola, where he has relocated his family, the deputy governor said: “The truth is that I have not sent any letter of resignation to the governor before he was impeached and up till now I have not, because the representative of the assembly only came to my official residence on Tuesday asking me to tender my resignation and ask me to address the letter to the speaker of the assembly which I did”
The deputy governor who is a constitutional lawyer has argued that the constitution does not prescribe that he should submit his letter of resignation to the speaker of the House of Assembly, pointing out that the duress by which the said resignation letter was obtained from him further breaches the procedure for resignation.
However, every attempt to contact the deputy speaker, Laori, who is now the acting speaker, to react to the allegation proved abortive.
Meanwhile, the impeached Governor of the state, Murtala Nyako, has called for the reinstatement of his deputy as the governor of the state, following his illegal removal. Nyako who spoke through his press director in a press release made available to journalists in Yola, said: “Our attention has been drawn to the purported resignation of the deputy governor of the state, Bala James Ngillari, which was supposedly read on the floor of the state House of Assembly. We wish to state categorically that Section 306 (5) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended requires that the deputy resigns not to the House of Assembly but to the governor. As at the time the supposed resignation was said to have been tendered in the assembly, Murtala H Nyako was the governor of the state. No such was written to him, none was received by him and none was approved by him. It should therefore be known that in the eyes of the law, the deputy governor has not resigned. Ngillari is still the deputy governor of the state,” the statement said.
In the same vein, the state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday condemned the impeachment of Nyako calling 
it a crude show of power by the PDP-led government to steal power from
the party.
The party made the position known through statement signed by
the state Publicity Secretary of the party, Rev. Phineas Padio, and made 
available to journalists in Yola. “The so-called impeachment and resignation of the governor and the 
deputy governor respectively, clearly signals a rape of democracy that 
must not be allowed to stand. To us and all other good citizens,
Tuesday’s action clearly climaxed PDP’s planned invasion of our dear
 state and betrays their political brigandage just as it exposes their 
desperation to rule the state against popular wish,” the statement
 said.
Padio maintained that: “Nyako still remains the leader of the party. I am not aware that the
APC structure in the state has been altered. I can tell you that the
party structure still remains intact.”
The statement added that sooner than later, the ill conceived
impeachment would be exposed adding that soon the Supreme court may upturn it.
“The Apex Court in the land inspires our confidence and will in no
 distant future reverse the evil that has befallen us because the 
process will hopefully be given an accelerated hearing,” the statement said.
