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Bauchi Assembly crisis: Court restrains Kawuwa Damina from parading himself as Speaker, APC petitions NBA

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5 years ago

June 22, 2019

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TRACKING >As the crisis rocking Bauchi State House of Assembly continues to escalate following the emergence of two Speakers, a High Court in State has grantend an injunction restraining one of the Speakers, Kawuwa Shehu Damina and his Deputy, Tukur Ibrahim from parading themselves as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.

The High Court presided over by Justice A. M Kafin Madaki on Friday, 21st June ruled that, “An order of interim Injunction is hereby made restraining the 3rd and 4th defendants/respondents from holding themselves out and/or parading themselves purporting to act in whatever manner as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly respectively pending the of the motion on notice”.

Abubakar Suleiman, Ahmed Danlami Kawule elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively as well as 11 others had through their Counsels, Ben Ogbubuchi, Mukhtar A Usman and O. P Egbe-Okpenge had approached the High Court seeking an order restraining Kawuwa Shehu Damina, Tukur Ibrahim and 18 others from parading themselves as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly.

It will be recalled that the crisis in the State Assembly began when 13 out of the 31 elected Members, made up of 8 from the Peoples Democratic Party, 4 from the All Progressives Congress and one from the New Nigeria People’s Party, outsmarted the remaining 18 APC Members and elected Abubakar Suleiman and Danlami Kawule as Speaker and deputy respectively.

The Clerk of the House, Barrister Yusuf Gital had supervised the elections of the two Principal Officers which held inside the Hallow Chambers of the Assembly last Thursday.

Feeling dissatisfied and aggrieved, the remaining 18 APC members held a parallel inauguration outside the Assembly complex under the stature of the symbol of a mace, with another Member-elect representing Warji Constituency, Yunusa Ahmed, presiding over it.

Meanwhile, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi State has condemned and rejected the election of new two Speakers by some members of the State House of Assembly.

The party in a press statement issued to Journalists on Friday and signed by the State Secretary of the party, Alhaji Bako Hussaini described the lawmakers actions as “unethical and unprofessional conduct”.

He stated that the Clerk of the Assembly as well as the security agents on duty were complacent and called on the anti graft agencies to investigate their conduct.

To this end, the statement said the party had written a petition against the Clerk of the House to the disciplinary committee of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) over “his act of gross misconduct and scornful approach to Nigerian Constitution and laws of Bauchi State.”

“We have seen a new leaf in the history of legislative business in Nigeria where through the cover of the night, the so called Clerk of the assembly conducted a charade and packaged fraudulent session as early as 6:00 am with only eleven out of 31 members in attendance”, the statement added

The statement further contained that, ” our members-elect being law abiding, expected that the Clerk who claimed to be a Lawyer, will ensure due process and fairness in handling the affairs of the House.”

The APC Scribe alleged that the security outfits they sought protection from, were used by the”PDP government” to teargas and forcefully remove “our members” out of the assembly complex and called on the APC members to be resolute and maintain their loyalty to the party, while disloyal members will soon meet their waterloo.