Nothing short of crass illegality and loss of leadership sense on the part of the APC led state government can best describe the events of recent weeks on the Plateau. In a society like Nigeria where democracy holds sway, and is seen as the objective form of government that has the rule of law as its linchpin, a sect will chose a draconian style to see that its selfish agitation see the light of the day. Why the APC led government on the Plateau against the voice of the people?

The blatant interest of the Executive Governor in recent days to have the people’s Speaker Rt. Hon. Ayuba Abok of the House of Assembly removed by 8 members in a house of 24 members is nothing but a naked dance of shame in the market of reason and the watering down of democracy. One wonders how the governor, being a lawyer and who claimed to have no hand in the charade yet was quick to receive and grant audience to the supposedly and illegally appointed speaker. This shows clearly that the governor’s hand is the spirit behind this illegality.

Plateau people would not have raised any concern if the purported impeachment was done in a manner known to the law. This is because the seat of the speaker is not a birthright; rather, it is a seat of privilege. The Governor who was once a speaker should have been the fore in the front seat refuting the ills and wrongs of a selected few. Posterity never grows old, it never fades with time, and it will certainly pay the Governor with the exact seeds of discord, hatred and illegality he has succeeded in sowing in the heart of Plateau people. Your failure will speak loud after your time; you will certainly dance your composed music.

Thus, the government should know that Rt. Hon. Ayuba Abok remains the authentic Speaker by law and in the court of public opinion. The withdrawal of his security details is surely an attempt to deliberately expose him to danger and to make him feel abandoned.

Let me at this moment call on the Executive Governor of Plateau State the Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong in the interest of Plateau state to restore normalcy to the Plateau State House of Assembly by recognizing Rt. Hon. Ayuba Abok as the Speaker, Plateau State House of Assembly not anybody else. We reject that illegality and will never accept that. Rt. Hon. Ayuba Abok is the Plateau peoples’ speaker; hence, he should be given all the support he needs except he is not with the people of Plateau which seems obvious. “I STAND WITH RT. HON. AYUBA ABOK”.

We demand that the House of Assembly be opened to allow the true people’s Speaker to preside over the affairs of the House for the good of Plateau state.

May I use this medium to commend the ingenuity and courage of critical Plateau stakeholders and quite a number of past and serving public figures too numerous to mention including our gallant youths across the state for courageously standing against APC led governments gross ineptitude, executive recklessness and impunity. May our collective will towards a better and united Plateau remain unshakable till our altruistic dream for our dear state becomes a reality.

CHIEF JERRY D. GUSHOP MNIM, ARB1, CMC, FIMC, JP
9th November, 2021

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“Attempted Impeachment of Rt. Hon. Ayuba Nuhu Abok: Dance of Shame on the Plateau” – Chief Jerry Gushop