No fewer than 15 speakers of state houses of Assembly have been impeached in the first three years of the present administration. The speakers, according to a nationwide survey by New Telegraph, were relieved of their positions by their colleagues over sundry allegations such as corruption, abuse of office and gross misconduct. Others lost out to political intrigues, especially supremacy battles between their political godfathers and benefactors, while a few had to vacate their seats due to changes in political calculations. So far, the gale of impeachment has swept through 10 out of the nation’s 36 states.
They are Kogi, Edo, Rivers, Abia, Jigawa, Delta, Ondo, Plateau, Benue and Kano. Some of the states have had speakers of their respective assemblies removed more than once within the time under review. Among the states under this category are Kogi, Edo, Abia and Ondo states.
The sack of heads of the legislative houses in the present administration started in February 2016 from Kogi State shortly after the inauguration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as the fourth elected governor of the state. Bello took oath of office on January 27, 2016, but a month later, five out of the 20 members of the state Assembly impeached the then speaker, Hon. Jimoh Momoh-Lawal. Accusing fingers were pointed at the governor for masterminding the impeachment, but he absolved himself of the speaker’s ouster.
The suspicion was later confirmed when Umar Imam emerged as speaker of the Assembly on July 26, 2016, following Jimoh-Lawal’s resignation. Many had thought that crisis would be over given that the governor had his way, but that was not to be as Imam equally bowed out like his predecessor on August 3, 2017, after another round of crisis. In his stead, Mathew Kolawole, the member representing Kaba/ Bunu state constituency, was elected speaker.
In Edo State, it has been four speakers so far. The first to be impeached was Victor Edoror, who was ousted alongside his deputy, Bright Osayande, on May 3, 2016. In Edoror’s place, the lawmakers elected the only woman among them, Hon. Elizabeth Ativie. She thereby made history as the first female speaker of the state Assembly. Ativie was, however, ousted on July 25, 2016.
Her deputy, Hon. Joseph Okonoboh assumed the leadership of the House. She stepped down after a motion was moved to ensure fairness in the political system so that the three senatorial districts would be represented. Okonoboh also got the booth on August 14, 2017, after a vote of no confidence was passed on him by his colleagues.
In his stead, Hon. Kabiru Adjoto, representing Akoko-Edo 1, was elected. He became the 4th speaker of the Assembly in the current political dispensation. The case of Abia could be described as unprecedented as the state Assembly elected two speakers within 24 hours on January 5, 2017, following the impeachment of Martins Azubuike. Two members were immediately nominated as replacement – Kennedy Njoku, representing Osisioma Ngwa North and Chikwendu Kalu of Isiala Ngwa South. Njoku poll 20 votes to beat Kalu with three as one member did not vote. By the next day, it became obvious that the choice of Njoku as Azubuike’s replacement did not go down well with the powers that be. It took the intervention of stakeholders to persuade Njoku to relinquish the office.
As soon as he acceded, Kalu, who was the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s preferred candidate, was elected speaker. The only change in leadership so far witnessed in the Rivers State House of Assembly occurred late December 2016, when the then Speaker, Adams Dabotorudima, announced his resignation exactly one year after he emerged. Ironically, Owaji Ikunni Ibani, who was a speaker before him, and who quietly relinquished his position, was the one who took over from him.
In Jigawa State House of Assembly, members on January 3, 2017, had their speaker, Idris Garba impeached. He was replaced by Isa Idris. Garba was accused of high-handedness and abuse of power, but there was more than meet the eye in his impeachment as some analysts in the state pointed to the crack in the ruling APC for his ordeal. May 11, 2017, saw another speaker, this time that of Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Monday Igbuya, joined the growing list of presiding officers of state legislative houses, to be relieved of their positions.
The three-term lawmaker was removed after a motion for his impeachment was unanimously adopted by all 22 out of the 29-member House present at plenary. He was immediately replaced with the lawmaker representing Okpe constituency, Sheriff Oborevwori. Like others before him, Igbuya’s ouster was linked with power tussle within the state PDP. In Ondo, the need for power balancing among the three senatorial districts of the state altered the arrangement in the state Assembly with the inauguration of Barr. Oluwaratimi Akeredolu as governor on February 24, 2017. Before then, the Assembly was controlled by the PDP, but with the party’s loss of the November 2016 governorship, lawmakers elected on its platform became rebellious to their party and even the then governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko. At one of their sittings, eight of the lawmakers teamed up with their five APC counterparts and pronounced the then Speaker, Jumoke Akindele and her deputy, Fatai Olotu, removed.
They also suspended the then Majority Leader, Dayo Akinsoyinu and elected Malachi Coker as speaker in acting capacity. The aftermath of this was the crisis that immediately engulfed the Assembly as there were claims and counter-claims on the removal of the principal officers. Akindele and the principal officers of the Assembly in her group later resigned to pave the way for the assumption of office of Coker’s group as the lawful leadership of the House. Coker equally stepped down in order to pave way for the emergence of a Speaker from Ondo Central Senatorial district.
It was against this backdrop that Bamidele Oloyelogun representing Ifedore Constituency emerged the new speaker on April 3, 2017. Another speaker that has gone down the line in the present dispensation is that of Plateau State House of Assembly, Peter Azi, who was impeached on July 11, 2018, for trying to prolong the tenure of transition committee chairmen in the 17 local government councils of the state, which elapsed on June 28. He was immediately replaced with the Chief Whip, Joshua Madaki (Jos East). Lawmakers in the Benue State House of Assembly on July 25, 2018, impeached their speaker, Hon. Terkimbi Ikyange and immediately replaced him with Hon. Titus Uba, who represents Kyan state consistency.
Ikyange’s removal was not unconnected with the battle for supremacy between Governor Samuel Ortom and his now estranged political godfather, Senator George Akume, which led to the defection of the governor from the APC to the PDP, which now dominates the House.
July 30, 2018, was the turn of Kano State House of Assembly to impeach its speaker, Hon. Abdullahi Atta. In a dramatic move, the Assembly re-elected Alhaji Kabiru Rurum, the immediate-past speaker of the House, who was also impeached over allegations of corruption. As usual, political meanings was read into Atta’s sack, especially by the camp of the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, who is locked in political battle with his successor and former deputy, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje. *Read full details on pages 11, 12, 13 & 16.
NewTelegraph
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