Posted by By PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi on
Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Hon Haliru Dauda Jika became a casualty of the face-off between the executive and legislative arm, as he was forced to resign on Wednesday for breaching a resolution by members to boycott Government House.
•Dep speaker, majority leader impeached
Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Hon Haliru Dauda Jika became a casualty of the face-off between the executive and legislative arm, as he was forced to resign on Wednesday for breaching a resolution by members to boycott Government House.
A new Speaker, Babayo Garba Gamawa, representing Gamawa constituency was unanimously sworn-in to replace him. The new speaker was nominated by Hon Haladu Ayuba, representing Dambam/Dagauda Constituency.
The crisis between the executive and the legislature came to the fore when three members, Hon Garba Sarki, Hon Aminu Tukur and Hon Babayo Garba Akuyam were said to have been humiliated by overzealous security men at the government house gate some weeks ago, a development that forced the House to reach the resolution that no member should have anything to do with the executive until the crisis was resolved.
In a motion for his impeachment, Hon Abubakar Ahmed Faggo, representing Shira Constituency, said the embattled former speaker should either resign or be impeached for what was described as his incompetence to lead the House and his flouting of the resolution to boycott government house.
The motion for the speaker's impeachment was seconded by Hon Aminu Tukur, representing Lere Bula, who said the decision to impeach the speaker was unanimous and read out 20 names of those who had appended their signatures to remove the speaker. The figure, according to him, represented two-third majority, a requirement to remove him.
The troubled speaker then called for a voice vote and ayes had it and he was forced to step down from taking proceedings in the House and the Deputy Speaker, Shaibu Usman Rahaman, representing Toro took over proceedings.
The speaker said the position was not a do-or-die affair, adding that if stepping down was a popular decision that would bring peace to the House, then he was willing to pay the price and he immediately resigned.
The members after electing a new speaker also impeached the Deputy Speaker, Rahaman, who presided over the election of the new speaker and in his position, Musa Mohammed Pali, representing Gwana\Pali Constituency was elected, while Chiroma Chindo representing Darazo Constituency was elected the new majority leader.
Reacting to the new development, the Special Adviser to the governor on Political Affairs and Assembly Liaison, Abdulmumuni Mohammed Kundak, described it as a normal happening in any democracy, saying that the lawmakers are at liberty to choose who should be their leaders at any given time so that democracy would thrive.
On the reasons given by the members against the former speaker, the governor's aide declined comments, saying 'as I told you, the people have the right to choose who leads them for whatever reasons they deem fit.
We in the Executive have no hands in whatever happen here. The three arms of government are separate from one another. I only came here to wish the new leadership of the House well."
It would be recalled that the House had two weeks ago made a resolution not to visit the government house again as well as suspended legislative activities following an alleged molestation of one of the members at the gate of the government house, a resolution the former Speaker was alleged to have flouted though he said that he only went to the official residence of the Governor and not the Government House as alleged.