16 PDP Lawmakers Not Permitted To Resume Plenary – Speaker

In a striking move following the Christmas and New Year break, the Plateau State House of Assembly’s Speaker, Rt. Hon. Gabriel Dewan Kudangbena, has denied 16 of its members access to participate in the plenary session.

This decision came to light during the first gathering of the House after the seasonal break.

Addressing the press after what was described as a brief and tense sitting, the Speaker stated emphatically that the barred lawmakers would remain excluded from the Assembly proceedings.

The continuation of their exclusion hinges on a pending clear interpretation of a recent court judgment, details of which were not fully disclosed at the time of the press briefing.

He said, “The house is in receipt of judgments from two courts, one from a court of appeal and another one from the supreme court. And you know I am a lawmaker, I can’t interpret the law. Therefore, I have to see full interpretations of these judgments before I know what to do.

“The only thing I know now is that there are 32 members of the House of Assembly claiming 16 constituency seats right now, that is the reason I see the interpretations. So, for now, the Plateau State House of Assembly has only 8 members whose seats are not in contest, and only 8 members are recognized by my leadership. The other 16 members will join us when the law is made clear.”

In his remarks, the leader of the 16 PDP lawmakers who came to resume plenary but were locked out, Hon Ishaku Maren from Bokkos Constituency, who spoke on behalf of 16 sacked members, after gaining access to the venue, said: “We agree with the position of the Speaker of the state house of assembly, we know the Plateau state House of assembly is law-abiding and has acted in accordance to the law. And as a group we are also law-abiding, we are calm, we are organized and we absolutely stand for our Speaker Rt. Hon Gabriel Dewan Kudangbena.”

Dewan added, “We are ready to wait until the judgments are interpreted to give legitimacy to the House of Assembly.”

Meanwhile, the 16 APC lawmakers were not present at the plenary, but the state publicity secretary of APC, Sylvanus Namang, said the APC lawmakers were advised to stay away from the sitting to avoid a clash.

At the time of this report, the situation at the old Government House is now calm, as workers have fully resumed work.