It’s been an interesting few weeks since Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren suddenly fired the tribe’s controller. Now, the Navajo Nation District Court in Window Rock has granted a temporary restraining order against him from taking any further action until a preliminary injunction hearing set for Oct. 27.
The Navajo Nation Council contends Nygren’s recent behavior has been “unlawful.”
In the fallout, local officials from across the biggest reservation in the U.S. are signaling growing disapproval with his administration. The government for the sprawling 27,000-square-mile reservation spanning three states — Arizona, Utah and New Mexico — is broken up into five regional agencies.
So far, at least two of them — representing nearly half of the tribe’s on-reservation population — have passed no-confidence votes in Nygren and his estranged vice president, Richelle Montoya.
“Take me out of the equation, Richelle Montoya, don’t worry about me, and if this is how we are going to be able to protect our people, then this is how it has to be,” she told KJZZ. “I always want our mother government in Window Rock to be respectful of our local leadership. They know their people.”
Montoya, who previously levied sexual harassment allegations against Nygren before a special prosecutor found he did no wrong, is now willing to leave office to help clear the way for a new administration.
But some have called on Montoya to lead, urging the Navajo Nation Council to suspend Nygren without pay and install her as the tribe’s first female president after breaking gender barriers as vice president.
“And I’m prepared to do that,” she added. “I raised my hand and I took that oath. Our government has to keep moving, our people need to keep getting services, and yes, I would work as president of the Navajo Nation.”
As for Nygren, he doesn’t plan on stepping down.
Citing a previous recall effort failing earlier this year, Nygren told KJZZ in a statement that “the same organizers are now attempting to garner support by collecting no-confidence resolutions” throughout the 110 local chapter houses.
Together, the Fort Defiance and Western agency councils that have already taken action in signaling their disappointment with Nygren and his administration are made up of more than 80,000 residents and 45 chapters.
This story was produced by KJZZ, the public radio station in Phoenix, and published by KNAU as part of the Arizona Public Media Exchange.
