Nigeria Content Online

It
may seem a double tragedy for Nafiu Baale, one of the suspended members
of the Oyo State House of Assembly, who was again, on Tuesday,
suspended indefinitely by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in his ward.

Mr. Baale, who
represents the Ibadan north east constituency at the state legislative
chambers, was suspended last week alongside other six lawmakers for
three months, for moving to remove the speaker, Olawale Atilola.

Wahabi Raji, PDP
chairman in his ward, addressed the press at the party secretariat in
Ibadan, on Monday. He informed that the party constituents decided to
suspend Baale indefinitely for getting himself involved in the attempt
to impeach the Speaker, who was alleged to be frustrating the move by
members to investigate the alleged misappropriation of N8.2 billion
levied against the state governor, Adebayo Alao Akala, by some
petitioners.

Sixteen of the 32
members of the House who attempted to sit at Chamber of the state House
of Assembly, with the intention to impeach Mr. Atilola, were prevented
by thugs who beat some of them mercilessly last week, leading to
serious injuries on two of them.

The pro-Speaker
members later sat to suspend seven of the pro-impeachment lawmakers.
But despite an effort to secure a court order to set aside the
purported suspension from the House, Baale got another blow from his
ward exactly a week after that of his colleagues.

Unhappy Baale

In his reaction to the latest suspension, Mr. Baale said the pronouncement was “illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.”

“The so-called
leaders that suspended me without informing me or levying any
allegation against me in writing, as prescribed by the PDP
constitution, and allowing me to defend myself before suspension, have
got it wrong. I don’t know if they know that a party constitution
exists at all. They just believe in doing things illegally. This is
sad,” he said.

He explained that
before a punitive action is taken, the law permits that an accused
person be invited to come and state his own side of the story.

“A decision taken against a member who has not been informed of the
charges against him or her, or been given any opportunity of defending
himself or herself, shall be null and void,” Baale said, quoting the
constitution.