Plateau House of Assembly
Plateau Assembly members brawl, impeach speaker
Members of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Thursday, engaged in a brawl leading to the impeachment of the Speaker, Hon. Abok Ayuba Nuhu.
The speaker was impeached by 16 members of the 24-member House of Assembly for reasons not disclosed but not unconnected with the former’s recent diatribe with the State Governor, Simon Lalong over the recent killings in Yelwan Zagam, the community of Jos North, where scores of peoples reportedly died in communal clashes.
The brawl saw House members throw punches and struggle for possession of the mace to prevent the impeachment proceedings from taking place.
The impeached Nuhu was subsequently replaced with Sanda Yakubu, who hails from the Pingana constituency of Bassa Local Government Area of the state.
Nuhu’s impeachment was reportedly backed by votes of sixteen lawmakers out of the 24 members of the assembly.
The impeached lawmaker and the state governor, Simon Lalong have been at loggerheads for weeks and his impeachment is suspected to be connected to their differences which was began after an attack in Yelwan Zagam, the community of Jos North.
Nuhu is said to have started calling the governor unprinted names, criticising him openly even as the speaker of the house.
However, in the process of his impeachment this morning, members of the assembly engaged each other in word battles and at some points attempted to punch each other.
Lawmakers under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who are loyal to the speaker grabbed the mace to prevent the impeachment process.
The APC lawmakers succeeded in impeaching the speaker and glasses were broken during the struggle which happened for a couple of minutes at the state chamber this morning.
The lawmakers who are the majority in the assembly, reportedly grabbed the legislative instrument and returned it to its position.
