Armed policemen, on Tuesday, teargassed the 16 Peoples Democratic Party members of the Plateau State House of Assembly who were sacked by the Court of Appeal....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The lawmakers had arrived at the Rayfield Old Government House in Jos on Tuesday morning alongside their supporters preparatory to their resumption of plenary when the incident happened.
The policemen and other security operatives took over the premises of the Government House and prevented the sacked lawmakers from going into the chambers of the House of Assembly but the lawmakers had vowed not to vacate the premises.
However, the eight lawmakers (seven APC members and one YPP member) who were not affected by the Court of Appeal Court judgment were allowed into the legislative chambers.
Addressing journalists after emerging from the chamber, the Speaker of the State Assembly, Gabriel Dewan said “As you will recall, on November 22, 2023, the Plateau State House of Assembly went into recess and adjourned to resume on January 23, 2024. And today as you can see, we are back to resume our legislative duties officially.
I pray God almighty will take control within the new year and we are ready to give the government of President Bola Tinubu and the Executive Governor of Plateau state all the needed legislative support.
Asked whether the House would allow the 16 sacked PDP lawmakers to resume their duties or swear in those who were declared winners by the Court of Appeal to take over from them, the speaker said “I’m not a law interpreter. For now, we are lawmakers but I’m in receipt of a court process that regards the issue.
At the moment, we have 16 vacancies at the state House of Assembly and there are court processes over this. As I’m talking to you, we have 32 members claiming the 16 vacancies in the Assembly.
“And like I said, we are lawmakers and not law interpreters. So, we allow the institution saddled with the responsibility of interpretation to interpret the law. So in due course, we will feed the public with the next line of action but for now, we have only eight House of Assembly members until the determination of the court process.
Reacting, the leader of the 16 sacked PDP lawmakers, Maren Ishaku, expressed satisfaction with the position of the speaker and led his members away.
“We are satisfied with the position of the Speaker and at the right time, we will know who the rightful owners of those vacant seats are,” Ishaku stated.
The PUNCH reports that members of the APC who were beneficiaries of the Court of Appeal judgment sacking the PDP lawmakers did not show up at the resumption of plenary by the Assembly on Tuesday.
Contacted, the Spokesman for the APC in the state, Sylvanus Namang defended the absence of the 16 members of his party who were declared winners by the court of Appeal during Tuesday’s plenary saying they could not have showed up in line with due legislative process
He accused the PDP lawmakers of overheating the system with their presence at the resumption of plenary which he said was unnecessary.
Namang said “We are not under any impression that our 16 members who have their certificate of return will attend any plenary today being Tuesday. As a law-abiding party, we know that it is only the eight recognised members that were supposed to sit today. Then after that, they will admit our 16 members who have their certificate of return.
“So, all the 16 sacked PDP members invading the House today is very unnecessary and unfortunate. They are only resorting to self-help and overheating the system and this will be more injurious to the PDP government in Plateau state. I think this rascality has to stop because the desperation will not take us anywhere. We are law-abiding citizens and nobody owns the state more than any other, ” the APC spokesman said…CONTINUE READING>>
