The
lingering crisis of the Adamawa State House of Assembly has deepened as
9 out of 25 members of the legislature sat on Tuesday in the conference
Hall of Government House,Yola, to remove the Speaker of the Assembly,
Alhaji Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri and his Deputy Barrister Kwamoti Laori out
of office.
The ouster came after a parallel sitting at the
House of the Assembly complex in Yola, presided by Fintiri, where 10
members including the Speaker also sat .
At the plenary session
the Speaker said six members of the Assembly were absent with the leave
of the House, while he said others were absent without permission and
the house was yet to be abreast of the reasons for their absence.
The house has since adjourned its sitting to Wednesday 29 April ,2015.
However, before then, 11 aggrieved lawmakers had issued a press
statement accusing Fintiri of high-handedness and unilateral closure of
the house which lasted for weeks and issued a warning to the effect that
by that action they have no alternative other than to convene the
sitting elsewhere.
Prior to the just-concluded March/April
general election in the country, the house of assembly had gone on a
three-week recess to allow members participate in the electoral process.
But a day to the opening of the house after the recess has
elapsed, 11 members allegedly loyal to Governor Ngilari issued a press
statement expressing their grievances with the leadership style of the
speaker and threatened to effect a leadership change in the house.
As the crisis deepens, 9 out of the 11 aggrieved lawmakers Tuesday
convened a sitting at the conference hall of the government house where
they removed the speaker and his deputy from office.
As the
plenary session of the 9 lawmaker began at the Yola Government House,
member representing Gombi constituency Hon Jerry Kumdisi moved for the
appointment of Honourable Wale Fwa as Protem speaker and was seconded by
member representing Girei constituency Abubakar Umar Girei.
While leading the session, the Protem speaker Fwa noted that the reason
for convening of the session follows consistent refusal of Fintiri to
open the house after series of entreaties made to him fell into deaf
ears.
She added that majority of the lawmakers have lost
confidence in the leadership of Fintiri as a result of which 17
lawmakers representing 2/3 of the lawmakers duly singed for the
impeachment of the speaker and his deputy.
"All the members who signed the impeachment notice have resolved to remove the speaker and his deputy," she noted.
It was at that point that member representing Verre constituency Hon.
Salihu Kabillo moved for the impeachment of the speaker and his deputy
leading to the removal of Fintiri.
After the removal Kabillo
again moved for the nomination of Hon. Jerry Kumdisi as the new speaker
of the house and was seconded by member representing Yola South, Hon
Abuzarri Ribadu.
In his inaugural speech, Kumdisi promised to
end the era of impunity as was entrenched by Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri's
leadership which led to his eventual fall.
He promised to work
in harmony with the executive arm of government as the relationship was
earlier frosty which affected the people of the state.
Kumdisi
accused some of the lawmakers who failed to turn up for the impeachment
as cowards, saying despite their withdrawal, the decision to impeach
the leadership of the assembly remained sacrosanct as their signatures
were duly appended and acknowledged.
Reacting to what he
described as a nullity, Fintiri, said he remained the constitutionally
recognised speaker of the assembly, saying: “It beats my imagination
that nine lawmakers who are under the payroll of the governor of the
state will sit down with a fake mace at the government house to effect
my removal.”
He said the people of the state know who their
representatives are and called on the media to safeguard the truth and
the Constitution of Nigeria.
Fintiri said the action of the members is a nullify as they did not follow the rules and guidelines of the house .
“If they are right, they ought to come to the floor of the house and effect my removal, not at the government house,” he said.
Credit: Daji Sani/ThisDay
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