Yola — The newly sworn in Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Hon. James Barka, has dissolved the state executive council and sacked all special advisers appointed by the ousted governor of the state, Alhaji Murtala Nyako.

The acting governor also dissolved the caretaker committees of the 23 local government areas of the state, as well as administrators of area development councils.

He, however, ordered the sacked political appointees to hand over all government properties in their possessions to career civil servants in their areas of operations.

The steps were taken to ensure a level playing field for all political stakeholders in the state, he said.

Barka said as the acting governor his roles had been clearly defined by the constitution, which had ascribed no constituent factor or political colouration to his office.

He said he would do all within his power to abide by the constitution for the benefit of all citizens of the state.

The acting governor also cautioned against partisanship and undue jubilations by politicians, as the verdict was not a victory for any political interest group but part of efforts to deepen democracy in the country.

He warned against lawlessness, stressing that he had already directed law enforcement agents to take decisive steps to stem any acts of lawlessness in the guise of political activism.

According to him, all contestants in the forthcoming election to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state as ordered by the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal would be given equal opportunity.

He said: "What is happening currently is the long awaited transparency and the rule of law that is needed to turn the country around."

Barka called on the people of the state to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship and conduct their affairs with maturity and eschew vicious and primitive campaign of calumny, violence and blackmail.

He also directed all state media to operate in accordance with their professional tenets by ensuring that equal opportunities are given to all political parties to reach out to the electorate.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Jos had on Tuesday upheld the judgment of the state Election Petitions Tribunal, which ordered the former governor, Nyako to vacate office immediately.

The tribunal had nullified Nyako's election and ordered a fresh election within 90 days. Nyako had however appealed the tribunal's verdict.

The appeal court had also ordered the Chief Judge of the state to swear in the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Barka, as the Acting Governor.

The Action Congress (AC) candidate in the April 21, 2007 governorship election in the state, Mr. Ibrahim Bapetel, had prayed the election petitions tribunal to annul Nyako's election on the ground that INEC excluded him on the eve of the poll.

Justice Isa Ayo Salami who presided over the case had said: "The appeal has failed and is therefore dismissed".

He had ordered INEC to include all those excluded from the April14, 2007 election in the fresh poll, which should be conducted within 90 days.

Barka, who was sworn in on Tuesday night has since appointed Mr Solomon Kumangar, the National Treasurer of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as his chief press secretary.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said it had fixed April 12, 2008 for a fresh governorship election in the state.

Making this disclosure in Abuja, INEC Commissioner for Information, Mr. Philip Umeadi, said the commission would always comply with the judgments of the election tribunals on petitions bordering on April 2007 general election.

The new move for fresh election in Adamawa followed the cancellation of the April 14 2007 gubernatorial election, which produced Nyako who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).