‘We have only one Speaker’, Team-Ayuba lawmakers protest

Lawmakers loyal to impeached Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Ayuba Abok, have camped out at the Assembly Complex to protest his ‘illegal impeachment’.

The lawmakers who had arrived at the Assembly complex on Monday morning were about to commence their plenary when thugs broke into the Chambers.

In a counter move to stop the thugs from attacking the legislators, some youths who were gathered in front of the Assembly complex rushed inside the premises leading to a clash by the two groups.

Read also: Plateau state governor, Simon Lalong, reacts to Abok’s impeachment

The Punch Newspaper reported that their Correspondent who visited the Assembly complex at about 11 am on Monday had seen some traces of blood littered on the floor of the Assembly compound while the entrance door leading to the Assembly complex and the windows of the building were shattered.

One of the lawmakers, Timothy Datong who spoke with The Punch’s correspondent said they would not leave the Assembly until the crisis is resolved and Abok is duly recognised and restored to his position as Speaker

Dantong who represents Riyom Constituency in the state said, “We came here this morning to commence our normal plenary and we have only one speaker and that is Ayuba Nuhu Abok. Fourteen of us are with him and all of us are here except two others that are not here on health grounds.

“The other lawmakers who want to impose an illegal Speaker came here and said that the Governor wants to see us at the Government House but we told them we were not going anywhere and that he should stop interfering with the affairs of the legislature.

“When they insisted, we allowed one of us to go with them and meet with the governor to convey our position in this matter. And our position is that Ayuba Abok remains the Speaker. We will sleep here and we won’t go out of the Assembly complex until the issue is resolved in our favour.”