Drama as 8 out of 24 members impeach Plateau Speaker

Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abok Ayuba was on Thursday impeached by eight out of the 24 members of the House.

 

His removal took place during an unusual sitting presided over by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Saleh Yipmong.

 

Hon. Yakubu Sanda representing Pengana Constituency was elected the new Speaker.

 

It would be recalled that the Speaker has been under fire since the unrest that broke out in some communities in Jos North and Bassa Local Government Areas, where several people were killed, many injured and others displaced from their ancestral homes.

 

Also, the  House of Assembly had given the Governor Simon Lalong  a two-week ultimatum to take firm action on the resolutions forwarded to him on “security matters and how to restore peace in the State.”

 

The Assembly also urged the Governor to come up with a statement defending the citizenry in the wake of security challenges facing the State.

 

It was gathered that the eight members upon gaining access to the House as early as 6am to carry out the act, operated under the heavy presence of armed security personnel.

 

The lawmakers had earlier attempted to impeach the Speaker on Wednesday night but could not succeed.

 

Hon. Nanbol Daniel, (PDP, Langtang North Central) said that the impeachment would not hold because it did not follow the House rules on impeachment of speaker and deputy speaker.

 

 

Plateau SSG congratulates new Assembly Speaker

 

Meanwhile, Professor Danladi Atu, Secretary to the Government of Plateau State, on Thursday in Jos congratulated the new Speaker of the House of Assembly, Yakubu Sanda, on his election.

 

Atu congratulated Sanda when some lawmakers, led by the Deputy Speaker Saleh Yipmong, presented the new speaker to him as representative of Gov. Simon Lalong.

 

Prof. Atu commended the new speaker for accepting the challenge to lead the legislative arm of government.

 

“Mr speaker, on behalf of government and people of Plateau, we formally congratulate you for accepting the leadership of Plateau State House of Assembly.

 

“As a government of the day, our position has been that the legislature is autonomous.

 

“Whatever happens in the house is the business of the house, the Executive arm is a mere collaborator,’’ Atu said.

 

He said that the Executive arm’s hands were open to work with the legislature for the good of Plateau to promote the ideals that the government is known for.

 

He urged the speaker to partner with all the arms of government so that all the arms would work as one as a government for the benefit of the people of the state.

 

In his remarks, Sanda said that he has accepted the challenge thrown at him by his colleagues to lead the Legislative arm or government.

 

The speaker said he would synergise with the Executive and the Judiciary to give good governance to the people of Plateau.

 

“That should be our cardinal point because that is why we are leaders for the people to benefit.

 

“I want to assure your Excellency of our total support and collaboration for the good of Plateau,’’ Sanda said.

 

Daniel Nanlong, Majority Leader of the House noted that members of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party were all present in the House when the leadership was changed.

 

Nanlong said that it was the culture and tradition of the House that when a new leadership emerges, it comes to the seat of power, to the governor, to officially introduce the person.

 

The majority leader told Prof. Atu that the former speaker was impeached because of gross incompetence and financial mismanagement.

 

He said that the members followed all laid-down procedures to change its leadership.

 

“The Constitution made it clear that there should be two-third majority that can remove the speaker and 16 members representing two-third signed for the removal of the speaker.

 

“And we duly submitted the list to the Clerk of the House of Assembly for confirmation and it is when the Clerk confirms that it authorises change of power.

 

“That was properly done before the new speaker was sworn in in the chamber of the assembly.

 

“Of course there was little drama but that is the tradition of legislators,’’ he added

 

 

Embattled Plateau Speaker suspends six members

 

Similarly, the embattled Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Abok Ayuba has dismissed his purported removal as the Speaker even as sanctioned the members who masterminded his impeachment.

 

Ayuba who presided over a plenary with the mace outside the premises of the State Assembly, alongside 13 other members of the House, upheld a motion raised by the Deputy Majority Leader of the Assembly, Philip Dasun and seconded by the Minority Leader, Peter Gyendeng to suspend the six members.

 

Those suspended are the Deputy Speaker, Saleh Yipmong, Majority Leader, Na’anlong Daniel, the new Speaker, Yakubu Sanda, former Deputy Speaker, Ibrahim Baba Hassan, Eric Dakogol, Abubakar Balo.

 

At the emergency sitting at the Zawan Community Association Hall in Jos, the 14 members also passed a vote of confidence on the embattled Speaker, declared that they stand for the truth, justice, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, democracy and the people of the State.

 

Briefing journalists shortly after the sitting at about 2.30pm, the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Philip Dasun said, “The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria makes a clear provision for the impeachment of the Speaker. It requires a 2/3 majority, we are 24, we are supposed to have a minimum of 16 members to sign and affirm the impeachment of the Speaker.

 

“To our greatest surprise, we were in the House today very early in the morning, we got an information that there is an attempt to impeach our Speaker.

 

“I went and I found seven people and I was the eighth person before the rest came. We are not in agreement with what happened, the Governor is a lawyer, he knows the constitution, he will not accept that illegal process, if he does, it is left for him to battle with his profession.”