A DAY after the Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly Sadiq Ibrahim Dasin and his Deputy, Mrs Wale Fwa, was impeached, stern-looking policemen arrived to deny the state’s lawmakers access to the building, allegedly acting on “orders from above”.
The State Assembly had on Monday sacked the Speaker and his deputy. The duo were said to be victims of emerging political undercurrents in the state ahead of an impending Supreme Court verdict on the right tenure of five governors including Nyako.
They were replaced by Ahmadu Umaru and Kwamoti Laori as speaker and deputy respectively.
But the new speaker, his deputy and members of the Assembly were locked out of the legislative complex in Yola on Tuesday.
A detachment of fully armed policemen had invaded the Assembly at about 9am to seal off the place.
It was learnt that some lawmakers who had earlier resumed were chased out of their offices.
Although 15 members arrived at the Assembly complex as of 9.30am, they were denied access to the chamber.
A PDP member of the Assembly said: “The state government was not happy with the removal of the Speaker and his deputy. Governor Nyako felt the sack of our leaders was targeted at him.
“We have nothing against the governor. He should leave the Assembly alone. In a democracy, what the Assembly does cannot be pleasant to him at all times.”
Another member said: “Some PDP leaders are querying our motive for changing our leaders when governorship poll is around the corner in the state.”
The Minority Leader of the Assembly, Jerry Kumdisi, who spoke with our correspondent, said: “We removed our Speaker and deputy on Monday but some powers that be were not happy with the development.
“We woke up on Tuesday to discover armed policemen overrunning the Assembly. They also put our offices and the chamber under lock and key.
“I had resumed by 9am but the policemen came to drive me out of my office. They said they were directed to take over the Assembly to prevent a breakdown of law and order. They said they received instruction to come and protect lives and property.
“We suspected the motive of the police and we asked them how a change of leadership has amounted to any breakdown of law and order.
“Yet, the police asked us to leave but we (15 out of 25 members) decided to sit outside in the sun within the complex.”
Replying a question, Kumdisi added: “The PDP also brought some hired thugs to the Assembly to intimidate members to reverse the removal of the Speaker and his deputy.”
“Our appeal is to President Goodluck Jonathan to prevail on the governor to allow democracy to flourish.”
But the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not relenting on its effort to maintain its hold on the state as it raised a high-powered team to serve in the governorship campaign committee of Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd).
The governorship election is scheduled for January 14, next year.
In the committee are: former President and chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) Olusegun Obasanjo, his erstwhile deputy Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Chief Tony Anenih, Senate President David Mark and Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, among others.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and all the PDP governors in the Northeast were also named as members of the committee.
Speaking at the inauguration at the Wadata Plaza, PDP national secretariat, Vice President Namadi Sambo, who chairs the committee made a comic reference to the allegation of rigging levelled against the PDP in last Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi State.
He said: “The opposition accused us of being scientific when we won the governorship election in Kogi. But we have moved beyond that because in the Adamawa election we are going on space invasion”
“We have confirmed to the world that the PDP believes in free and fair election. This fact was attested to by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega when he declared the Kogi election free and fair.
“The Kogi election was scientifically won and we are going to win in Adamawa with the same strategy. I charge the campaign committee to do everything possible for us to win the election.”
Echoing Sambo, the party’s National Chairman, Abubakar Kawu Baraje said the PDP would conquer Adamawa the same way it did in Kogi, saying that the party would go all out to win the election.
Other members of the campaign committee include Alhaji Shettima Mustafa, Bamanga Tukur, Hassan Adamu.