The recent reinstatement of the impeached Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Nuhu Abok Ayuba, by the court has created infighting, war of words, and uncertainty in the state’s legislative arm, Daily Trust on Sunday reports.
Ayuba, who was of the All Progressives Congress (APC) then, was impeached by 16 out of the 24 members of the house in 2021 after falling out with Governor Simon Lalong and was replaced with Hon Yakubu Sanda.
The bone of contention was over some happenings and security issues in the state. He was later accused of anti-party activities among other things. He thereafter defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
After his impeachment in 2021, Ayuba and Sanda continued to hold onto the seat and were even holding parallel congresses and plenaries. At a point, Ayuba stormed the Assembly complex with his supporters who protested against his impeachment carrying placards with different inscriptions.
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Another incident which the crisis generated during that period was that the former governor and past senator representing Plateau Northern zone, Jonah David Jang, traded words with the state government, saying Ayuba was right in his activities and actions. Jang even threatened to stage a protest against the impeachment due to what he termed illegality in the process and Governor Lalong’s complicity in the saga.
The Plateau State government, however, replied Jang, saying his statement was an attempt to fool the gullible public, and that he was trying to preach what he (Jang) never believed in his entire political life.
The statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Dan Manjang, stressed that Jang is know for his bigotry and how he had polarized the ethnic groups in the state, and that the government will not fold its hand and allow anything to derail the peace in the state.
During that period also, security operatives sealed the house, saying that their action was to maintain law and order and make sure that the situation does not degenerate into expanded crises.
On a certain day, some hoodlums broke into the assembly complex and destroyed properties in the hallowed chamber. The new speaker’s team accused Ayuba’s team of sneaking into the house to destroy the properties for unjust reasons.
Court reinstates impeached speaker
The stalemate continued until Ayuba went to court to seek redress and there was relative calm as they awaited court verdict.
Then came the court verdict last week, which reinstated Ayuba and since then, things took a different twist. The immediate reaction from the state house of assembly, however, was that they were not aware of the said judgement.
In his judgement, Justice M. L. Musa of Court 6 in Jos High Court declared that the impeachment was illegal, null and void.
The court further awarded the sum of N20 million as cost of appearance and the sum of N138,000 as cost of filing the matter against the defenders.
Reacting to the judgement, the reinstated speaker, Ayuba, expressed his gratitude to the judiciary, saying the judgement is a victory for Plateau people.
“I have been vindicated by this judgement. I committed no crime to warrant any impeachment, but I was forced out, and I ran to the judiciary to seek justice on my case, now I have been vindicated.
“With this judgement, I will resume office tomorrow and there will be sitting.
But in a swift reaction to the judgement, the Majority Leader and House committee chairman on information Hon Nanlong Daniel said the judgement was null and void because other events have overtaken the judgement.
“After the impeachment of the former speaker, the house declared his seat vacant, which means he is no longer a member of the house of assembly and cannot benefit from this judgement.
“In any case, the house is not even aware of the judgement, and we have not been served. We are just hearing the news as rumour, whenever we are served, we will react to it. But for now, we are not aware of the judgement.”
“The House of Assembly is a product of the law, we are law makers, we have respect for the judiciary, and we have the option to appeal the case whenever we are served. But for now, we don’t believe there is any judgement against the house.
“The house is a defender in the case but we were not aware the court will pass judgement on Monday. And we can’t act on what we don’t know,” he said.
Interestingly, drama continued over Ayuba’s reinstatement. First, an atmosphere of confusion and uncertainty enveloped the complex and environs, early Tuesday morning over the court judgement.
This was swiftly followed by the deployment of anti-riot policemen to the assembly complex who said they were acting in reaction to an intelligence report over likelihood of violent protests.
At about 8am however, the reinstated speaker appeared at the assembly complex and headed straight to his office to resume. But the speaker met the office under lock and key.
At about 9.16am, the speaker eventually found the key to his office and successfully gained entrance and resumed.
While the drama lasted, a team of youths loyal to the speaker were at the gate of the assembly threatening to deal with anyone who will prevent the speaker from resuming office.
Meanwhile, another group of youths loyal to Hon Yakubu Sanda were also mobilising to invade the assembly complex and chase out the reinstated speaker.
Nonetheless, the reinstated speaker and his colleagues resumed plenary later on, but while they were sitting, a court staff came in and served them a court paper that contained stay of execution.
The Sanda faction, it was gathered went to court and appealed against the judgement and obtained stay of execution. And with that stay of execution from court, they said Ayuba had no legal standing to preside over plenary or to parade himself as speaker.
The development made the police to eventually seal the complex.
When contacted by our correspondent why they sealed the complex, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Plateau State Command, Alabo Alfred, reaffirmed that it was in order to maintain peace and ensure that the impasse does not degenerate into violence.
But in a swift reaction, the spokesperson of Ayuba, Bulus Atang, said the police action is an illegality because they too are under the law and ought to obey court judgement.
He said the court did not order for the sealing of the house by the police, but for the reinstatement of the impeached speaker.
According to him what the police should at best do is to ensure safe and smooth resumption of the speaker, and that if they (the police) have any intelligence report crisis in the house, it is still their job to make sure that such does not happen and arrest anyone fingered in the plot.
But sealing up the assembly complex, Atang stressed, is not what the police should have done, adding that the concerned authorities should immediately restore the security details of Abok and ensure he resumes his legislative work without any threat or fear.
Efforts to reach Yakubu Sanda were not successful as his phone number was not connecting.
But his media aide, Sebastian Hoomuk, referred our correspondent to Hon Naanlong Daniel whose number was not connecting as well.
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