The Plateau State House of Assembly on Thursday
witnessed a rowdy session as members of the Peoples Democratic Party protested
the extension of the tenure of the transition chairmen of the 17 local
government areas of the state.
Governor Simon Lalong had written a letter to the
lawmakers, requesting that the tenure of the local government transition
chairmen be extended by six months, instead of the original two months.
The chairmen were appointed following the sacking of the chairmen who were
elected into office by former governor Jonah Jang.
But the 10 PDP members,
led by the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Yusuf Gagdi, protested the move, saying that it
was against the agreement reached with the lawmakers when the chairmen were
elected last year. He said that the chairmen’s tenure had been extended by two
months in the former exercise since they were appointed earlier this year.
At the plenary on
Thursday, the Speaker, Mr. Peter Azi, after reading the communication from
Lalong, said that the governor had reasoned that the extension of the tenure of
the management committees’ chairmen of the 17 LGC to six months would make for
stability and allow them to be focused.
He said that the governor
had also said that the six-month extension would enable the government to put
some necessary machinery in place for a conducive conduct of local government
election in the state.
The contributions,
however, turned rowdy as all the 10 PDP members vehemently kicked against the
extension by six months and insisted that based on the earlier agreement, it
should be extended by just two months and also subject to the performance of
the chairmen in the past months.
In his contributions,
Gagdi, representing Kantana Constituency on the platform of the PDP, disclosed
that the House was in the receipt of 11 petitions against the management
committees’ chairmen, adding that if they were doing well, there would be no
petitions against them.
He pointed out that the
allegations consisted of massive corruption levelled against the chairmen,
stressing that their tenure should not be extended more than two month.
But his position was
countered by the Member representing Jos North, North Constituency under the
All Progressives Congress, Mr. Ibrahim Baba Hassan, who urged the House to
consider the six months tenure extension to pave the way for proper planning of
local government polls in the state.
As the Speaker was about
to subject the motion to a vote, the 10 PDP lawmakers walked out of the chamber
in protest while the 14 APC members voted in support of the six months.
All efforts to persuade
them failed.
Speaking to newsmen,
Gagdi described the action of the APC lawmakers as unconstitutional, as they
did not form two-third majority as stipulated by the constitution
..punch
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