Gov Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has revealed that he suspended the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Bemsen Mnyim, over failure to adhere to the administration’s regulations.
The Benue State government, on Wednesday evening through the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Tersoo Kula, announced the immediate suspension of the Justice Commissioner.
This action was taken following allegations that he had involved the state in a lawsuit initiated by certain state governments, which seeks to declare the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) illegal.
The states involved argue that the EFCC was established unlawfully, as the procedures for its creation did not comply with the requirements outlined in Section 12 of the amended 1999 Constitution.
Giving further explanation on why the Attorney General was suspended, Governor Alia said: “I feel quite disturbed and uncomfortable with the position of my Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
“Past governments have rogued Benue State, 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, and there are ethics, and we must keep to them.
“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.”
