Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has provided an explanation for the recent suspension of his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Bemsen Mnyim.
The suspension, announced by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, on Wednesday evening, was reportedly due to Mnyim’s involvement in a controversial lawsuit seeking to challenge the legality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The lawsuit, backed by a group of state governments, questions the legitimacy of the EFCC, claiming that the process of its establishment did not adhere to the constitutional provisions of Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution. This action directly contradicted the position of the Benue State government, according to Governor Alia.
Speaking on the matter, Governor Alia expressed his dissatisfaction with his Attorney General’s stance in the lawsuit. “I feel quite disturbed and uncomfortable with the position of my Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
“Benue State has been rogued by past governments and we are only seeing how we can get something back to develop the state. We have been deprived of our own financial resources here in the state.
“So why all of a sudden my administration will get back there to take the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that is even helping the state, or the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, that is helping the state to do some recovery of what is stolen from the state, to court.
“We are looking for money to develop the state so why would we go back to say we are taking these people to court for proscription. That is not the position of Benue state.
“And we strongly feel that if we just let that go, lessons will not be learnt here. Therefore the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the State has to pay quite dearly for this.
“Any person who is representing the state and you are sent out to do any meetings to hold forte for the state must revert to the state. We have the standard by which we are working. You are not independent once you are working within the confines of the government. So you have to revert to know the position of the government before you take a final decision.
“So you cannot be a lone wolf over there making your own personal decisions for the state. It is highly unacceptable.
“We feel very strongly that it is very inappropriate for my Justice Commissioner to go and speak on behalf of the government, to have the EFCC proscribed. That is not the Benue state position.
“So as I am speaking here the Attorney General stands suspended until he explains very fully and we are satisfied as a body to have him back with us.
“But Benue stands very clear, if you do not play by the rules or keep the rules you will answer for it. This is very clear to our administration. There are rules of conduct, there are ethics and we must keep to it.
“So I cannot have saboteurs within the system. Why am I spending all my time to recover the resources of the state that were lost and the only establishment to help me do this is the EFCC.”
