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WINDOW ROCK, Arizona — Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren is target of a recall effort to remove the leader from office by foes who charge him with misusing funds and neglect of duty, among other things.
"We're the people, and he's not above us. He's not below us," said Debbie Nez-Manuel, who previously served as director of human resources for the Navajo Nation before she was dismissed from the cabinet post last June. "We elected him in, and we just want him to be a responsible leader when it comes to the resources of the Navajo Nation."
Nygren's administration didn't immediately respond to queries Friday seeking comment. Nygren, who was born in Blanding, according to the Deseret News, won election to the Navajo Nation leadership post in the Nov. 8, 2022, elections and took office the following January.
Nez-Manuel, speaking to KSL.com on Friday by phone from the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, Arizona, said a committee of 13 took shape this week to lead the recall effort and that they started collecting signatures on petitions on Wednesday to get the recall question put to Navajo Nation voters on a future ballot. They need to collect at least 29,803 signatures from people who voted in the 2022 Navajo Nation elections and have six months to do so, per Navajo Nation election rules.
"We're going to do the very best we can. In the last few days we've collected over 500 signatures, and that tells us that people want it, too," she said. The Navajo Nation covers an expansive area where southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico meet, though Navajo Nation members live around the United States.
Those involved in the recall drive outline the reasons they're targeting Nygren in a website they created, bambuuzled.com. Among other things, the critics charge him with "breach of fiduciary trust" for using more than $280,000 on travel expenses and exceeding his travel budget by nearly $130,000. They charge him with neglect of duty for not providing a report to the Navajo Nation Council in the fall 2023 and summer 2024 sessions, among other things, and say he hasn't properly addressed charges of nepotism, bullying and disrespect of women by his administration.
Nez-Manuel, from the Navajo Nation community of Klagetoh, said she witnessed some of the alleged conduct while she served in Nygren's cabinet as executive director of the Navajo Nation Division of Human Resources. She was fired from the post on June 27, 2024, according to the Navajo Times, but told KSL.com that she isn't pursuing a recall vote as retaliation. "I didn't have any problems. I was fine," she said.
In the Navajo Times article, dated July 11, Vince James, a Navajo Nation Council delegate, noted with apparent dismay the recent departures of many top Navajo Nation administrators. "It's a big concern that we're trying to address," James said.
Nygren's election made him the youngest-ever Navajo Nation president, according to the Deseret News. The news outlet said fighting poverty and improving access to broadband, electricity and running water within Navajo Nation boundaries were key campaign messages ahead of the 2022 voting.
"If you grew up the way I grew up, with no running water, no electricity, I lost my mom to alcoholism, I have relatives that we lost to alcoholism this year — there's this loss of hope, loss of identity, and I feel all this sadness around me. And as president, I want to do what I can to make sure that our people have hope that we're not always going to be like this," he said in an interview after winning the November 2022 vote.
