National Assembly will not tolerate any act of illegality in the Plateau State House of Assembly, Senate President Ahmad Lawan warned yesterday.
Eight of the 24-members Assembly impeached Speaker Abok Ayuba on October 27 and elected Yakubu Sanda as replacement.
Lawn’s warning followed a motion titled: “Disruption of legislative business in Plateau State House of Assembly: Need for early intervention by the Senate to avoid deterioration” by Senator Istifanus Gyang representing Plateau North, at plenary.
In its resolution, the Senate called on the Plateau State House of Assembly to be guided by the Rule of Law and the Constitution in all legislative business, particularly where and when it affects election and removal of a presiding officer.
According to the upper chamber, this is needed to deepen democracy and uphold the independence of the legislature as an arm of government and to set aside the impeachment.
Deputy Speaker Saleh Yipmong presided over the controversial session where Sanda was allegedly picked as the new Speaker.
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Gyang, in his lead debate, said the alleged impeachment by eight members of the House fell short of the two-third majority, which is the constitutionally required number of legislators in an impeachment proceeding as provided for in Section 92(c) of the Constitution.
The senator argued: “The majority of the members of the House are opposed to the alleged impeachment and have pledged loyalty and solidarity with the speaker against those loyal to Sanda.
“The Conference of Speakers of the 36 States have denounced the alleged impeachment and withheld recognition for Sanda.”
The Plateau North senator insisted that an impasse and stalemate had arisen which if left unchecked may degenerate.
Contributing, Senator Gabriel Suswam said: “The behaviour of the members has the capacity to negatively affect the perception of the international community as the way we are running our democracy.
“If we do not react swiftly, we will be seen to be abdicating our own responsibility as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The Senate president said: “The governor can receive even if it is one member of the House of Assembly who wants to see him as the head of government at that state level.
“So, if eight members or whatever number decided to go and visit him and he receives them, I don’t think the governor has done anything wrong.
“What is wrong after investigation will be whether appropriate steps were taken. If they were not, certainly that is something that the Senate, particularly, and the National Assembly in general, will not tolerate.”
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