SAN FRANCISCO, May 26, (THEWILL) – There was drama on Thursday at the Gombe State House of Assembly during the plenary when All Progressives Congress (APC) members, Abdullahi Abubakar and Mohammed Bello, took away the mace in an attempt to impeach the Minority Leader, Ahmed Haruna.
The Assembly suspended four APC members for allegedly conspiring to forcibly remove the mace in a bid to prevent the impeachment of the Minority Leader.
Haruna, was reported to have held a press conference on May 5 condemning the ward congress of the APC in the state.
This angered members of the party in the Assembly, which is dominated by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and they moved to remove him. Five out of eight APC members had signed the motion for his removal.
But on Thursday, during the process for his removal, one of those who had endorsed his removal made a U-turn, saying he had been forced to endorse the motion under duress.
Following the development, which split the lawmakers equally, it was obvious that the impeachment would not hold. This led the lawmakers to take the mace, at about 1:12 pm.
After the incident, the Majority Leader of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Mr Fabulous Amos, said those involved in the theft of the mace had been suspended.
“We have suspended them for four legislative days,” he said adding that the matter was referred to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
The committee was mandated to investigate the incident and report back to the Assembly on Monday, May 28.
