Former Honourable speaker of the House of Assembly Plateau state, Mr John Clark Dabwan has broken silence on why he resigned his position, averring that he resigned in the interest of peace and unity.

Speaking yesterday at the NUT hall in Mangu Local Government Area of the state, where he was received by a large/jubilant crowd, he described his sacrifices for democracy as personal, and then thanked his community for their immeasurable support through his period in the house.
In his address, he said “I undertook my duties in the House of Assembly with diligence, honesty and the fear of God and therefore when it came for me to resign, I did so honourably”. Further saying that since Plateau state had been through lots of political and religious violence, it was pointless to allow any personal interests to further aggravate such situation.

He recalled that when he came into the house in 2007 under the platform of t

Former Honourable speaker of the House of Assembly Plateau state, Mr John Clark Dabwan has broken silence on why he resigned his position, averring that he resigned in the interest of peace and unity.

Speaking yesterday at the NUT hall in Mangu Local Government Area of the state, where he was received by a large/jubilant crowd, he described his sacrifices for democracy as personal, and then thanked his community for their immeasurable support through his period in the house.
In his address, he said “I undertook my duties in the House of Assembly with diligence, honesty and the fear of God and therefore when it came for me to resign, I did so honourably”. Further saying that since Plateau state had been through lots of political and religious violence, it was pointless to allow any personal interests to further aggravate such situation.

He recalled that when he came into the house in 2007 under the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), he was the minority leader of the House before later defecting to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011 and then later being elected speaker of the House. He unreservedly thanks his supporters for their unwavering support, saying that in whatever other capacity they wanted him to serve next, he was ready.

It would be recalled that about 2 weeks ago, severe political wrangling and friction between the State executive and the legislative arm of Government led to threats of the impeachment of Hon. Dabwan. Many political analysts and opinion leaders have analysed the reasons behind the impeachment and have remained baffled as to why such a loyal and committed speaker who hitherto enjoyed a very good relationship with the executive could be impeached.

Some analysts have opined that his cardinal sin was when he allegedly attempted to constitute a committee to investigate missing SURE-P funds, which brought massive panic within Government circles. Prompting the Chairman of the Plateau State SURE-P implementation committee to release a statement claiming that the funds were intact. Several questions remain unanswered in respect of the SURE-P funds and undoubtedly, Dabwan was right to constitute the committee to investigate that in the interest of Plateau people. If that, as many political analysts have opined is the reason behind the resignation of the honourable gentleman, then it is quite unfortunate. And as several Plateau opinion leaders have said, the Plateau state government needs to be careful so that the great legacy, which they have painstaking achieved over the last few years is not thwarted by political wranglings.

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Hon John Clark Dabwan: Why I resigned as Speaker Plateau State House of Assemby