Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt.Hon. Abok Nuhu Ayuba, in the early hours of Thursday was impeached over an allegation of corruption.
Eight lawmakers of the 24-member Assembly reportedly at a plenary passed a vote of no confidence on the Speaker, removed him from office and immediately elected Yakubu Sanda, who represents the Pengana state constituency, as replacement for him.
Ayuba was 33-year old and a 500 level law student of the University of Jos when he was elected as Speaker on June 10, 2019.
A detachment of police men reportedly escorted members of Ayuba’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) into the chambers to remove him as Speaker.
Members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were said to have been prevented from entering the Assembly complex during the impeachment process.
Also, heavily armed police men were stationed around the Assembly complex during the impeachment.
Meanwhile, the purportedly sacked Speaker returned to the Assembly with his supporters to suspend six lawmakers for being masterminds of the impeachment plot.
The six members were suspended immediately after the failed attempt to impeach the Assembly Speaker, Abok Ayuba.
Eight members had reportedly impeached Ayuba around 6:00 a.m. on Thursday.
The six members were among the eight lawmakers that sacked Ayuba and replaced him with Yakubu Sanda.
Ayuba was said to have later presided over the plenary outside the Assembly’s complex with the Mace in place and attended by 14 lawmakers.
The Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Philip Dasun, who moved the motion for the suspension of six lawmakers that carried out the “illegal impeachment,” said Section 92 of the 1999 subsection 2C had stipulated a clear procedure on how to impeach a speaker or a deputy speaker.
The motion was seconded by the House Minority Leader, Peter Gyendeng.
Dasun also moved a motion for vote confidence to be passed on Ayuba as the authentic Speaker of the Plateau State 9th House of Assembly.
Dasun, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Communication, said that none of the procedures was followed by the members who allegedly impeached the speaker.
He said the members did not form quorum during the exercise, adding that they did not have a two-thirds majority required by law to impeach a speaker.
He said: “They went against Section 92(2c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Order 7 rule 14 of Standing Orders of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
“I, therefore, move that the six members that carried out the illegality be suspended till further notice.
“They include Baba Hassan (APC, Jos North-North), Saleh Yipmwang (APC, Dengi), Daniel Naanlong (APC, Mikang), Eric Dakogol (APC, Quanpan North), Mohammed Ballo (APC, Quanpan South), and Yakubu Sanda (APC, Pengana).”
