Court reinstates Abok as Plateau speaker — 17 months after he was impeached

A high court in Plateau has ordered the reinstatement of Abok Ayuba as speaker of the state house of assembly.

In the judgement delivered on Monday, Nafisa Musa, the presiding judge, held that Ayuba’s impeachment was illegal and therefore null and void.

Ayuba was impeached on October 28, 2021, by eight lawmakers from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The impeachment was presided by Saleh Yipmong, the deputy speaker.

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were reportedly prevented from entering the assembly complex.

Yakubu Sanda, a member representing Pengana constituency (APC), was subsequently named as the new speaker.

Aggrieved, Ayuba instituted a suit before the state high court to challenge his impeachment.

He asked the court to declare that his removal “as speaker of the Plateau state house of assembly by the votes of less than two-third majority of the 24 members which is, 16 members of the Plateau state house of assembly, was in violation of Section 92(2)(c) of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, Order 7 rule 14 of the Plateau State House of Assembly Standing Orders 2021 as amended”.

The judge agreed that the impeachment of the complainant was illegal and consequently ordered his reinstatement with immediate effect.

The court further awarded N1.5 million as the cost of litigation and N138,000 as the cost of filing the suit.