Skip to content

Police whisk away embattled Plateau Speaker, 10 members as thugs clash

The crisis rocking the Plateau State House of Assembly took a dramatic turn on Monday as armed policemen invaded the House of Assembly complex and whisked away the embattled Speaker, Nuhu Abok Ayuba, and 10 other members at around 3:20pm, in four Hilux vans, to an unknown destination. The operation was led by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Edward Ebuka, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Commandant, Alexander Barunde. Journalists and demonstrators were also teargassed.

The Member representing Langtang South, Hon Zingtin Sochang, said, “We are now being bundled into four Hilux vehicles by security men to a yet to be known location. If after 20 minutes you call us and there is no response, you should know that we have been taken to an unknown place. We are firm and resolute in our duties to the Plateau people that voted us to the House in our struggle to fight to a logical conclusion until the speaker is reinstated.” Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress in the state, Sylvanus Namang, in a statement made available to New National Star, said the lawmakers should realize that the interest of Plateau state was bigger than that of any individual.

On the other hand, the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the state condemned the role of the state Commissioner of Police ,Edward Ebuka, in the whole drama. Ayuba was on October 27 impeached by 8 members of the assembly, who elected Yakubu Sanda as the new Speaker. But Ayuba and members of the house loyal to him held a session outside the assembly complex same day, during which they suspended six of the members that impeached him, and declared him (Ayuba) as the authentic speaker of the house. Gov. Simon Lalong had recognised Sanda as the new speaker of the assembly, however Ayuba and the lawmakers loyal to him gained access to his office on Monday and were holding an executive session, preparatory to a sitting, when some youths staged a protest in front of the assembly complex in support of Ayuba. Ayuba briefly told journalists that he did not know whether he was arrested or not, saying he would address journalists at the end of everything.

Before the speaker was taken out of the assembly complex, youths, who were protesting in front of the complex in his support, were dispersed by security personnel. Tear gas canisters were thrown at the protesters with water cannons stationed to ensure that the protesters left the premises. Earlier on, Ayuba and other members of the House loyal to him had called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the crisis bedeviling the assembly. The lawmakers, in a video recorded in the chamber of the assembly and made available to journalists, appealed to the president and Plateau elders to end what they called “the impunity and the siege to the assembly by security personnel”. Mr Philip Dasun, the Deputy Majority Leader of the legislature, who is loyal to Ayuba , said he remained the Speaker of the assembly. He said, “Today the first of November 1, 2021, we the 12 members are supporting Abok Ayuba, the Speaker, Plateau State House of Assembly, that was duly elected by constitutional provision. As you can see his picture is still on the wall and not tampered with, his name tag is still intact, the mace is still here to tell you that there was only an attempted impeachment, our speaker was not impeached, whatsoever.

“We are only calling for attention from the governor of this state, to disregard any illegal speaker presented to him and authorize the legitimacy of the speaker unanimously voted by 24 members of this assembly. We are not here to fight; we are not here to cause conflict but calling on the government to reinstate our Speaker whom the Plateau people are well pleased with. “We are calling on the government to reinstate our Speaker. He has been firm, he has been dogged and he stood for the people of Plateau. For me, I consider him as Commander-In-Chief of formidable accomplishments in this 9th Assembly. “We are calling on the President of Nigeria, we are here in the hallowed chamber, the chamber that is sacred to us, a chamber the president respects at the National Assembly. We expect the governor to respect this chamber. Please, Mr President, intervene and salvage democracy in Nigeria, gone are the days in 1999 when democracy returned, 20 years down the line, to what extent can we condone this impunity, to what extent can we condone this legislative rascality.” Dasun, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Information and Communication, called on all well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in the situation. He thanked civil society organisations, youths, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Jama’atul Nasri Islam (JNI) for their support. “We learnt that you have been outside since morning to support us, we are happy with your actions,” he said. Ayuba, who also spoke in the video said that they were in the hallowed chamber which he said was sacred, and that they would not accept any siege by security personnel.

The embattled speaker called on security agencies to respect the rule of law and respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “We are here, we are going to stay here until the Plateau elders come in and intervene,” he said. Meanwhile, rival thugs supporting the two contending sides clashed at the assembly complex, resulting in the breaking of some doors and windows of the building. The fighting ensued when the embattled Speaker, Abok Ayuba, and the lawmakers loyal to him were holding a meeting inside the assembly complex. However, some other youths believed to be loyal to Sanda, the new speaker, entered the assembly complex through the back door. This degenerated into a pandemonium as those that gained access to the building through the back door started breaking the doors and windows of the assembly to stop the lawmakers from sitting. In a swift reaction, those that were protesting in front of the complex scaled the fence and started fighting those that were destroying properties at the assembly. However, security personnel intervened and brought the situation under control, beefing up security within and outside the assembly complex. A detachment of personnel of Operation Safe Haven was also deployed to the assembly complex.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *