Pandemonium At the Plateau State Assembly As APC And PDP Youths Engage In Free for All Fight

Yakubu Busari

Pandemonium broke out today at the Plateau State House of Assembly, according to our reporter the pandemonium was due to the  removal of the Council chairmen in the state. A group of People Democratic Party (PDP) Plateau state  Youth wing had in the afternoon of today besieged the Assembly complex  protesting  against what they viewed as unceremonious termination of tenure of Local government Chairmen by the Governor Lalong.

But the peaceful protests turned soar when supporters of APC from Jos North emerged and started challenging PDP loyalists against embarking on an act capable of ridiculing the government they fought to bring on board, a situation which led to fight by the groups forcing journalists and other persons to run for their safety.

In their grouse spokesman of the protesters, Mr James Nyam said the peaceful protest was to call on the governor Simon Lalong led administration to reconsider the plight of the sack chairmen and allow them complete their three years tenure.

The protesters who were in their numbers stormed the Plateau State House of Assembly complex expression dissatisfaction with the decision of the Governor appealed for understanding with the government.

Meanwhile the Plateau State House Committee Chairman on information, Hon. Abubakar Mohammed has condemned rumors of crisis among members.

He said the members of hollow chamber upheld the principle of the practice because the Speaker has the right to read whatever that is presented before the members.

“We are enjoying cordial working relationship with the PDP members, as you can see the secretariat is full and we all know where we are going and where we are coming from”.

Mohammed cautioned media to always verify the facts before going to press; the entire legislative business is to provide qualitative representation to the people of Plateau who voted them in to power.

The only issue on ground is that the presentation did not follow the right procedure from the speaker to the governor, we are calling on journalists to uphold the tenets of democracy, he explained.

It was gathered that 13 members out the 24 Members who stamped their authority were majority of  those elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as they also kicked against the attempt by the State Governor  Simon Lalong to constitute a caretaker Committee for the Seventeen  Local Governments of the state.

The drama started when the Plateau State Speaker Rt. Hon Peter Azi wanted to Present the letter of the Governor on the floor of the House for discussion on the constitution of the caretaker on Tuesday but the thirteen members who are PDP members including the Deputy Speaker Hon Yusuf Gagdi and twelve others opposed the decision and force the Speaker to drop the matter totally.

The Speaker at the start of the sitting on Tuesday had perceived trouble by the Lawmakers and directed all Journalists covering the House of the Assembly to leave the chambers.

While Briefing Journalists yesterday at the Assembly Complex, Deputy Speaker  Yusuf Gagdi, Majority Leader Hon. Daniel Dem and 11 other members of the PDP in the House described  the attempt by the Speaker to bring  the issue of the constitution of the Caretaker committee or management committee on the deliberation of the house as illegal, saying they will not allowed illegality to be done in the Assembly since the issue of dissolution of the Seventeen  Local government Chairmen is still in the court of law.

The Deputy Speaker Hon. Gagdi who spoke on behalf of the lawmaker said already the Speaker has refuse the members not to discuss the issue of the dissolution, saying the matter was already in court and there was no reason for him to bring the issue of caretaker for discussion since the matter was still in court.

“The constitution of management committee or Caretaker committee for the seventeen Local government is illegal since the tenure of existing chairmen have not expire, and we the PDP caucus will not allowed illegality to be done since the issue is already in court, and we are advising Mr Speaker to respect the law and there should be no discussion on the management committee”.

Our correspondent reliably gathered that there was a serious tension at the chambers as some of the lawmakers were shouting on the issue which forced the Speaker to adjourn  sitting for today Wednesday, but it was gathered that the House didn’t sit today.

It would be recalled that the State Governor Simon Lalong had on the 6th July dissolved the seventeen elected Local government Council which their tenure was to expire in 2017.

It was also gathered by this medium that Governor Simon Lalong held a secret meeting with the 24 members yesterday which lasted for over 6 hours.