The Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abok Ayuba has been impeached after 24 out of 32 members of the House voted against him.
Ayuba was removed after a sitting presided over by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Saleh Yipmong.
He is being replaced by Hon. Yakubu Sanda who represents Pengana Constituency.
Prior to Ayuba’s impeachment, he had been criticised over the incessant unrests that had plagued many communities in Jos North and Bassa LGA, where several persons were killed, injured and others displaced from their ancestral homes.
The House of Assembly had given the Governor of the State a two-week ultimatum to take action on the resolutions forwarded to him on “security matters and how to restore peace in the State.”
The House had also asked Governor Simon Lalong to respond to the security challenges which had become a reoccurrence in the state.
It was gathered that eight members of the House resumed as early as 6am in to start the impeachment process.
The lawmakers worked under the presence of heavily armed security personnel.
They had attempted to carry out the impeachment on Wednesday night, however it was unsuccessful.
Hon. Nanbol Daniel, (PDP, Langtang North Central) had said that the impeachment would not hold because it did not follow the House rules on impeachment of speaker and deputy speaker.
Prior to the recent development there was a petition making rounds on social media in the early hours of Wednesday by a group under the aegis of Youths Rights Against Corruption (YRAC) accusing the Speaker of corruption.
YRAC said it has submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the Speaker, accusing him of several allegations, including abuse of office and financial misappropriation.
The group also demanded that the Speaker should immediately step down from his position pending the completion of investigation.
Executive Director, YRAC Comrade Abednego Musa, signed the petition titled: “Petition Against Plateau State House of Assembly Speaker, Nuhu Abok Ayuba, On Gross Financial Misconduct, Criminal Breach Of Public Trust And Abuse Of Office”.
The embattled Speaker is yet to respond to the development.
