Sixteen lawmakers of the Plateau State House of Assembly who have been shut out of the legislative business in the North Central state have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to wade into the impasse between them and the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Gabriel Dewan.
The aggrieved lawmakers, who are members of the All Progressives Congress, met with the party’s national chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on Tuesday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly has refused to accord recognition to the APC lawmakers despite the ruling of the Court of Appeal.
Dewan, who maintained that there is a subsisting court injunction restraining him from allowing the APC lawmakers into the House, has equally denied access to their 16 PDP counterparts, submitting that he would only recognise 8 members of the House of Assembly.
Addressing journalists after their meeting with the APC national chairman, Honourable Maiyaki Theodore Bala, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, told journalists that they were under pressure from their constituents to take their legitimate seats in the State Assembly.
He said, ” It must be mentioned at this point with every sense of responsibility that we have been under immense pressure from our constituents and supporters, who are potentially the ultimate beneficiaries of our representation.
In the last couple of months, they have been without their representatives in the House of Assembly, thereby emasculating their voices and depriving them of the popular participation promised them in our democracy.
Our supporters and other faithfuls have mounted no less pressure on us to take measures that would accelerate our swearing-in, and some of them require circumspection because a stitch in time saves nine!
“We have remained calm and patient, not because we are weak, or are in any doubt about the sanctity of our mandates, or even because of a lack of steps to take, but because we do so in deference to the precarious conditions of our dear state, which has suffered so many security challenges in recent times. We understand that our detractors do not care if we throw the bath water and the baby, but as responsible representatives of our people, we shall always consider their interests above all sentiments.
“Make no mistake that we shall not allow our deep sense of community and commitment to the state to be misunderstood for weakness or meekness or allow it to sacrifice our democracy and our respective mandates on the altar of partisan considerations. Enough of the eccentric nuances of the enemies of our democracy!
“What is even more disturbing is that leaders of goodwill and champions of democracy have remained complacent and sedentary in the face of these acts of unfair vilification and immolation of the principles of our democracy and the rule of law in Plateau State. ”
The lawmakers who recalled President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s direct interventions in the crisis of confidence between the Executive and legislative arms in Ondo and Edo states expressed concern over his perceived indifference to the drama playing out in Plateau State.
“We have wondered with concern whether the democracy in Plateau State is different from that of other states. We have observed with concern that when other Houses of Assembly in the country were enmeshed in a crisis of some sort, the President and other stakeholders came to their rescue. We recall the intervention of
Mr. President in the Ondo, Rivers, and most recently the Edo States crisis, which gave those states succour and direction. We deserve the same if not more, attention of Mr. President and other patriots in resolving the protracted and unabated refusal of the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly to inaugurate us. Doing so would guarantee constitutionality and ensure the rule of law prevails where no one is above the law.
“We have waited enough, giving everyone and every institution concerned the opportunity to do the needful.
We will no longer continue to tolerate the wanton indiscretion of the enemies of our democracy who are parading themselves in sheep’s clothing whilst promoting the ‘rule of might’ through self-help in absolute derogation of the orders of the court. We have run out of patience and are set to defend the legal mandates given to us by our people through every legitimate means, no matter whose ox is gored.”
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