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There was confusion at the Plateau State House of Assembly on Thursday following the removal of the Speaker, Ayuba Abok.
Abok, a first-term lawmaker representing Jos East state constituency was impeached by eight out of the 24 members of the Assembly in the early hours of Thursday.
He was immediately replaced by the lawmaker representing Pengana state constituency, Yakubu Sanda.
Both the impeached Speaker and new Speaker are members of the All Progressives Congress(APC).
The lawmaker representing Rukuba/Irigwe state constituency in the House of Assembly, Musa Agah, who confirmed the development to newsmen in Jos on described the action of the lawmakers as “the height of illegality”
Explaining how the Speaker was removed, Agah said: “It was this morning (Thursday) that some few members rushed to the Plateau State House of Assembly as early as 6am. You know the House of Assembly is made up of 24 members and the constitutional requirement for the removal of the Speaker is 2/3 majority which is 16 members.
“So, eight lawmakers rushed to the Assembly this morning against the House rules that say that plenary commences from 9am and even if there is going to be an extraordinary sitting, the Speaker is the one who is empowered to convene but that did not happen. When some of us got wind of what was happening, we rushed to the Assembly complex only to discover that security operatives had barricaded everywhere. Some of us were stopped from gaining access to the Assembly complex while they also harassed others.
“While the confusion was going on, the eight members said they have passed a vote of no confidence on the Speaker and went ahead to purportedly remove the speaker.”