By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
Section 176 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) established the office of the Governor of a state. While Section 176(1) states that “there shall be for each state of the Federation a Governor,” Section 176(2) adds that, “The Governor shall be the chief Executive of that state.” The nation’s groundnum also goes ahead to establish the qualifications and the process of election of the governor. For instance, a candidate to the office of a governor must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth; must have attained the age of 35 years; be a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party and must have been educated to at least School Certificate or its equivalent.
In Section 180(1, a, b,c,d) as well as Section 180(2 & 3), the constitution further provides details of the tenure of the office of a governor and conditions that could warrant a office holder to stay longer than the four years stipulated. This is stated in Section 180(3), where it is indicated that if the country is at war and the President believes that election may not be practicable, he may cause the National Assembly to extend the period of four years expressly provided by the constitution for anyone holding the office of the governor.
Just as the constitution provides for qualifications for the office of the governor, it also states the conditions for disqualification of the person so elected as governor. A long list of provisions contained in Section 182(1a-j) and 182(2abc) as well as 182(3) spell out the conditions that disqualify candidates from holding the office of a governor. This ranges from acquisition of citizenship of another country, to criminal conviction, resignation, death or having been sworn in more than twice.
Section 182(3) specifically disqualifies a person, who has been sworn in to complete the term of another person who was elected governor shall not be elected more than once.
For elected governors and their deputies, however, the big elephant in the room is Section 188(1-11), which spells out the procedures for impeachment of a governor or deputy governor. The bigger picture in the provisions is Section 188(10), which provides an ouster clause for court intervention in the process.
That said Section 188(10) reads: “No proceedings or determination of the panel or of the House of Assembly or any matter relating to such proceedings or determination shall be entertained or questioned in any court.”
Section 188(1) states that: “The Governor or Deputy Governor of a State may be removed from office in accordance with the provisions of this section,” and in Section2, it states that the process will be initiated by at least one-thirds of the members of the House of Assembly, who shall submit a notice in writing of allegations bothering on gross misconduct to the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
The speaker of the House of Assembly is expected to within seven days serve the affected office holder of the particulars of the alleged gross misconduct, while the House is expected to resolve within fourteen days whether the allegations are to be investigated by a vote in the assembly complex.
Section 188 (2) enumerates the procedure thus: “ Whenever a notice of any allegation in writing signed by not less than one-third of the members of the House of Assembly- (a) is presented to the Speaker of the House of Assembly of the State; (b) stating that the holder of such office is guilty of gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office, detailed particulars of which shall be specified, the Speaker of the House of Assembly shall, within seven days of the receipt of the notice, cause a copy of the notice to be served on the holder of the office and on each member of the House of Assembly, and shall also cause any statement made in reply to the allegation by the holder of the office, to be served on each member of the House of Assembly.”
188(3) also states that: “Within fourteen days of the presentation of the notice to the Speaker of the House of Assembly (whether or not any statement was made by the holder of the office in reply to the allegation contained in the notice), the House of Assembly shall resolve by motion, without any debate, whether or not the allegation shall be investigated. The constitution further spells out the details of the impeachment procedure as follows:
188(4) A motion of the House of Assembly that the allegation be investigated shall not be declared as having been passed unless it is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of the House of Assembly.
188 (5) Within seven days of the passing of a motion under the foregoing provisions of this section, the Chief judge of the State shall at the request of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not being members of any public service, legislative house or political party, to investigate the allegation as provided in this section.
188 (6) The holder of an office whose conduct is being investigated under this section shall have the right to defend himself in person or be represented before the panel by a legal practitioner of his own choice.
188 (7) A panel appointed under this section shall—(a) have such powers and exercise its functions in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly; and (b) within three months of its appointment, report its findings to the House of Assembly.
188 (8) Where the panel reports to the House of Assembly that the allegation has not been proved, no further proceedings shall be taken in respect of the matter.
188 (9) Where the report of the panel is that the allegation against the holder of the office has been proved, then within fourteen days of the receipt of the report, the House of Assembly shall consider the report, and if by a resolution of the House of Assembly, supported by not less than two-thirds majority of all its members, the report of the panel is adopted, then the holder of the office shall stand removed from office as from the date of the adoption of the report.
188 (10) No proceedings or determination of the panel or of the House of Assembly or any matter relating to such proceedings or determination shall be entertained or questioned in any court.
In Section 188(11), the constitution only clarifies what is meant by gross misconduct, when it states that, “In this section – “gross misconduct” means a grave violation or breach of the provisions of this Constitution or a misconduct of such nature as amounts in the opinion in the House of Assembly to gross misconduct.”
Credit: Nigerian Tribune