The face-off between the Speaker, Plateau State House of Assembly, Honourable Nuhu Abok Ayuba and the state governor, Simon Lalong, took a dramatic turn last Thursday when the Speaker was impeached. From all indications, the impeached Speaker and some members of the assembly have been having a running battle with the governor over the recent killings in the state.
At the peak of the crisis when twenty-five Ondo State-bound travellers passing through Jos were killed and another thirty-five murdered in YekwaZangam, the state assembly issued a two-week ultimatum to the governor to take certain steps over the state security crisis and align himself with the people of the state.
The position of the House then did not go down well with the state government which perceived it as an indictment on the governor over the unfortunate incident. The state government contended that the Speaker of the House being a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC) ought not to have accepted such a position from the parliament, as it looks as if he (the Speaker) is playing an opposition script to discredit the Lalong government.
Sunday Tribune findings revealed that since the hot exchange of words between the lawmakers and the state government over the spate of killings in the state, the relationship between the Speaker and the governor has nosedived and an attempt by the Speaker of House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila to broker peace between the warring parties has not yielded any positive result.
Further findings revealed that since the clash between him and the state governor, Honourable Abok has been avoiding government functions and has rarely been seen at functions that had Governor Lalong in attendance. He was conspicuously absent at the recent state congress of the APC. A close source told Sunday Tribune that the governor was not too disposed to the Speaker’s impeachment, but some forces within the corridors of power in the state are insisting that the Speaker must pay for his sin.
There was a clue to his impeachment recently when a group, Youth Rights Against Corruption (YRAC), petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accusing the Speaker of corruption, abuse of office and financial misappropriation. Based on the allegations, the group asked him to step down from his position pending the outcome of the investigation by the anti-crime agency.
In the petition signed by its Executive Director, Comrade Abednego Musa, with the title ‘Petition against Plateau State House of Assembly Speaker, Nuhu Abok Ayuba on gross financial misconduct, criminal breach of public trust and abuse of office’, the group said its action was necessitated by popular demands and the need to avert continuous bleeding of public treasury in the state.
The group emphasised that a probe of the procurements and expenditure of the House since Ayuba assumed its leading position would reveal how he has been breaching public trust and diverting contracts and projects into companies of his interest with the alleged active connivance of the clerk of the House.
The impeachment saga
But the plot to impeach Ayuba reached a climax last Thursday when some members of the state assembly stormed the House amid tight security at about 6:00 am. Before their arrival, security operatives had taken over the assembly complex as early as 4:30 am. The Deputy Speaker presided over the plenary with some members in attendance. After the storming session, a member representing the Pengana constituency, Honourable Yakubu Sanda, was elected as the new Speaker.
But before the dust over his impeachment could settle, Ayuba along with thirteen other members conveyed a plenary outside the assembly and suspended the six lawmakers, who carried out his impeachment and as well passed a vote of confidence on him.
Explaining the rationale behind Ayuba’s impeachment, majority leader of the House, Honourable Daniel Naanlong said the House decided to change its leadership to save the institution and democracy from further damage on account of the misconduct and violation of due process and high handedness of Ayuba.
He said after following due process and complying with the laid down procedures, 16 members signed for the removal of Ayuba, who he said was subsequently impeached by the required two-third of the members including those from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), who do not want to be mentioned.
Naanlong said in Ayuba’s place, Sanda was duly elected as Speaker. But the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Honourable Philip Dasu, raised three fundamental issues concerning the time of Ayuba’s impeachment, its constitutional requirements and transparency.
Debunking Naanlong’s claim on Ayuba’s impeachment saga, Dasu said: “Nine of us were at the plenary, seven supported Ayuba’s impeachment, while two of us abstained. But constitutionally for the Speaker to be impeached, at least a two-third majority must vote in favour of the process. Well, the Plateau State House of Assembly has 24 members, and just seven were involved in the impeachment. For it to be legal, at least 16 members need to vote in its favour.”
He noted that the plenary was conveyed without Ayuba’s knowledge and wasn’t attended by majority of members of the House, because it was held at an odd time, contrary to the 9:00 am that the House rules says its plenary must start, stressing that even if an extraordinary session was to be held, it has to be convened by the speaker himself and that the members, who impeached the speaker sneaked into the House at 6:00am with the cooperation of the security agency.
Meanwhile, the executive arm of the state government has absolved itself from Ayuba’s impeachment saga, saying the visit of Sanda to the government house after he was elected as the speaker was a tradition anytime there’s a change of guard at the assembly.
In view of the impeachment saga rocking the House at the moment, the question on the lips of many people has been who is in charge of the state assembly? And who will resolve the impasse? The impeached Speaker is still claiming legitimacy on the premise that constitutional requirements were not met for his impeachment, while the newly-elected Speaker is also claiming to be the legitimate leader of the House, saying Ayuba had been sacked by two-third majority of the assembly. Based on the foregoing, there is a strong indication that the Edo State scenario might play out in the Lalong state.
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