Nigeria Content Online

The
Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Faggo (PDP) has been
impeached and Haliru Jika (ACN) representing Ganjuwa Constituency has
been elected as the new speaker. The impeachment followed a motion
under notice of public importance moved by Aminu Tukur (ACN)
representing the Lere/Bula constituency, who urged the House to impeach
Mr. Faggo over alleged “poor leadership”.

“Since the
inception of Faggo (Shira Constituency) as the speaker of the House,
there has been no progress and he has retarded the activities of the
House, therefore, there was need for us to remove him as speaker,” said
Mr. Tukur.

Seconding the
motion, Baba Gaide (PDP) who also urged the House to impeach Mr. Faggo
because the activities of the House had continued to move at a “snail
pace” over the inactivity of the speaker. The House, presided over by
the Deputy Speaker, Saleh Dumba, (PDP) representing Dass constituency,
adopted the motion in which 20 members out of the 31 members of the
House signed the impeachment notice while two of the members including
Mr. Faggo were absent.

The Deputy Majority
Leader, Auwal Jatau, was also removed and was also replaced by Ibrahim
Bappa (PDP). He was removed over what the members described as
“loyalist of Faggo and an impediment to the House”.

The new speaker was sworn in by the deputy clerk designate, Muhammed Tulu.

Mr. Jika, the new
speaker, told journalists in an interview after being sworn in that he
was happy with the mature manner in which the lawmakers had handled the
impeachment saga.

Mr. Jika, who is
occupying the number three position in the state for the second time
under Mr. Yuguda’s administration, assured that he would reposition the
House to ensure that all the activities of the House take a vibrant
dimension within the few months left for the tenure of the legislators
to expire.

No political motive

Aminu Tukur, the
mover of the motion, said, after the session, that the legislators had
failed to legislate laws that could be beneficial to the people of the
state due to a lack of sittings. He said that it was constitutional for
the lawmakers to exercise their right whenever the need arises.

He said: “Without
malice, it was under Faggo that the House has failed many times to
convene, sit down and take any decision towards the development of the
state. Out of the five former speakers we had in the state, Faggo is
the worst we ever had, therefore, we have decided to impeach him.”

He however denied
the allegations from some quarters that the Secretary to the Government
of the Federation, (SFG), Ahmed Yayale and the FCT Minister Bala
Muhammed had masterminded the impeachment of Mr. Faggo. He also denied
the allegations that the impeachment of Mr. Faggo was to lay the ground
for the impeachment of the state governor, Isa Yuguda.

Commenting on his
removal, Mr. Faggo, who spoke in a telephone interview, said that he
was still the speaker, describing the move of the legislators as
illegal. He said that the 20 members out of the 31 members that sat on
his impeachment lacked the two-thirds majority required by the
constitution.

Mr. Faggo, who refused to disclose the location he was speaking
from, stated: “I am still the incumbent speaker of the House as the
actions by my colleagues were unconstitutional, considering the fact
that they have even failed to serve me with a notice of impeachment.”