The Majority Leader of the Plateau State House of Assembly (PLHA), Hon. Naanlong Gapyil, on Sunday, provided an insight into the circumstances leading to the impeachment of a former Speaker of the House, Hon. Nuhu Ayuba Abok.
Hon. Abok was removed last week in a controversial circumstance as the embattled Speaker said his removal was illegal.
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But speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the majority leader explained that Hon. Abok was removed for financial misappropriation, dictatorial tendencies and gross incompetence.
He told reporters at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos that the former Speaker used his position as Speaker to; “corruptly enrich himself and develop his personal political empire, thereby frustrating policies that could have engendered development to the state.”
Gapyil accused the former Speaker of shutting down the House for three months and finding a home in the major opposition party, noting that these acts culminated in his removal.
Daily Trust reports that these allegations were previously raised in a petition sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by a group.
But the embattled Speaker dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.
However, the Majority Leader, who represents Mikang district in the House, insists the Speaker was properly removed.
He also displayed videos of the removal proceedings affirming that 16 members of the House of Assembly signed the removal notice and followed due process in line with the House rules.
He said, “Abok is also said to have made concerted efforts to thwart all the efforts put in place by the current administration of Governor Lalong and the goodwill earned by it simply because he felt he has found a new home other than the All Progressives Party,” the majority leader alleged.
He said Abok is a product of the ruling APC, stressing that all he ought to have done (just like other members of the party were doing) was to have worked in line with the policies and programmes of the current government to ensure the delivery of dividends of democracy to the people of Plateau State.
He added, “I want to tell you that what the House under the former Speaker Nuhu Abok was doing was totally in the negation of what is expected of a leader who is supposed to put into account his primary responsibility first in all his undertakings.
“This is because we have the mandate of the people of Plateau State to represent them well.
“Being a Speaker is a privilege and I must tell you that the way and manner Abok has managed this House as its Speaker can be summarized as embarrassing.
“Firstly, since autonomy was granted to the PLHA under Abok, there was never a time that the Principal Officers ever met, discussed, and took any decision on any issue.
“Abok was only taking decisions solely without recourse to principal officers of the House.
“And I would be bold to state that his dictatorial tendencies are one of the reasons that cost him the Speakership”, he said.
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