Breaking: Embattled Plateau Speaker Suspends Six Lawmakers

The crisis rocking the Plateau State House of Assembly took a new twist in the afternoon of Thursday as the embattled Speaker, Abok Ayuba, led loyal members to an emergency meeting to suspend six members of the eight members who made impeachment move against him.

Being unable to gain access to the State Assembly Complex to continue the day’s legislative duties, Ayuba presided over a plenary with the mace outside the premises of the State Assembly.

He was joined by 13 other loyal members of the House, cutting across party lines.

Upon a motion raised by the Deputy Majority Leader of the Assembly, Philip Dasun, and seconded by the Minority Leader, Peter Gyendeng, six members they described as arrowheads of the impeachment fiasco were suspended.

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.

THE WHISTLER learnt the emergency sitting held 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.

The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Philip Dasun told journalists after the sitting that, “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.”