Adamawa assembly impeaches deputy speaker, majority leader, others

The Deputy Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, Sunday Peter and other principal officers have been impeached.

A new Deputy Speaker, Emmanuel Tsandu, was elected to replace him.

Also impeached were the Majority Leader, Mr. Musa Mahmud, the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Mutawali Mohammed and the Minority Leader, Mrs Justina Nkom.

The lawmakers who replaced the impeached officers were Burguma Hong, Abubakar Isa and Lamsumbani Dili.

The plenary was presided over by the Speaker, Kabiru Mijinyawa.

Tsandu, who was the deputy speaker under the administration of ex-governor Boni Haruna in 2003, said the change of leadership was necessary to stop impunity in the state.

The new deputy speaker, from Madagali constituency, was elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The impeachment was the climax of the crisis that had rocked the state chapter of the party.

The former deputy speaker was accused of betraying the lawmakers and reducing them to errand boys before Governor Mohammed Umaru Bindow.

The Guardian leant that the sacked officers were accused of plotting to frustrate the passage of the local government autonomy bill when it is presented for debate.

It was further leant that the new leadership had the support of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is from the state.

There were unconfirmed reports that the new leadership may defect to the PDP before December this year.

According to a source, the lawmakers might begin a probe into the foreign and local loans collected by the governor, which had no direct benefit for the people.

The motion for their impeachment was moved by Abubakar Hayatu (APC-Uba/Gaya) and seconded by Abubakar Abdurrahman (Mubi South).