Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is labouring hard to convince citizens that he is not remotely connected with attempts to impeach a governor in the North-central State of Benue who only recently ditched the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

On Monday, eight lawmakers of the Benue State House of Assembly, backed by a detachment of the Nigeria Police Force gained access, and sat at the Assembly premises from where they served the governor of the State, Samuel Ortom, an impeachment notice.

On Tuesday, the nation’s anti-graft body, EFCC, also linked Ortom to an alleged fraud totaling N22 billion.

The commission is also said to have revealed that 21 members of the Benue State House of Assembly were under investigation for allegedly diverting N375 million meant for the procurement of vehicles that were to be used for oversight functions.

These were said to be contained in a report of an investigation which began in 2016.

Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to President Buhari in a statement on Tuesday, acknowledged that strident attempts were being made to drag President Muhammadu Buhari into the unfolding drama between the executive and the legislature in Benue State.

However, the Presidency condemned different interest groups insinuating that the President may have a hand in the development in Benue.

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Adesina said, “This is paranoia at its worst, coming from people who have wittingly positioned themselves against the clean-up of the country, and the way we do things. They prefer business as usual.

“President Buhari will never be part of any unconstitutional act, and any attempt to link him with the inglorious past, when minority number of lawmakers impeached governors, will not stick. It will simply be like water off the duck’s back. Those with open minds know this, but those who cavil would rather source everything untoward to the President. It is murky ground in which they are now marooned, as fallout of their resistance to change in the country.

“When it suits them, they preach separation of powers and true federalism, and in another breath, they call on the President to interfere brazenly in affairs at state level.

“President Buhari will always stand by all that is noble and fair, and will reject attempts to drag him into infamy. People who stoke fires by deliberate acts of omission or commission, and then summon the President to come and put it out will find that this President will be guided by the Constitution at all times, no matter the attempt to entangle him in unwarranted controversies”.

The weeks ahead remain unpredictable as different plots coalesce to determine the power structure and political future of Benue State.