Nigeria Content Online

As the Plateau State
government, on Monday, inaugurated a 39-person committee to oversee
preparations for a celebration of Democracy day on May 29, the state’s
House of Assembly is still in a state of inactivity five months after
members proceeded on Christmas break.

The last official
sitting of the House was on December 18, 2010 when the state governor,
Jonah Jang presented the 2011 appropriation proposal to the
representatives for debate and subsequent approval. Speaker of the
House, Caleb Istifanus Mwansat, however adjourned the House immediately
for Christmas break. It was obvious at the time, with the build up to
2011 elections heating up, that the House was bitterly polarised between
the governor, Mr Jang, and his deputy, Pauline Tallen.

Intrigues in the
House worsened and paved way to the subsisting impasse when 16 of the 24
lawmakers defected, in solidarity with Mrs Tallen, into the Labour
Party early in January ahead of last April’s elections. Leading his 15
colleagues into the opposition camp, the deputy speaker, Baba Hassan,
was reported to have launched a plot to remove the speaker whom they
accused of not only being loyal to the governor, but was also
frustrating efforts by the house to check the executive.

2011 budget

Since January, the
speaker has, in turn, failed to reconvene the House to consider the
budget and other matters pending on the legislative calendar. One of
such outstanding matters is the consideration and approval of the 2011
budget, as the executive arm, since January, has been working without
oversight checks.

At odds with one
another, there was no indication at press time whether the speaker will
reconvene the House before the legislative year ends, as a majority of
the members who defected to the Labour Party, except the deputy speaker,
Mr Hassan, lost their re-election bid and will not be part of the next
legislature, which will be sworn in next month.

During a visit to
the House of Assembly complex along Old Bukuru road, Jos yesterday, some
of the staff were seen discussing the re-election of the speaker and
deputy speaker, who are returning in the next legislative year on
different political platforms. Mr Mwansat won his election on the
platform of the PDP while the deputy is now a lawmaker of the Labour
Party.