Taraba Assembly under pressure to elect a new speaker

Members of the Taraba State House of Assembly on Tuesday came under heavy attack by the state chapter of the All Progressive Congress, APC, to elect a new speaker or risk recall by their constituents.

State chairman of the party, Alhaji Ardo Jika who made the call in a chat with journalists in Jalingo regretted that for the first time in the history of the country, the house adjourned sine die without date of resumption just to protect the interest of the former speaker, who is not even a member of the house.

“In the situation we have find ourselves, Taraba electorates should not just sit and watch what is happening. The laws of this country are meant for us including members of the House and we must operate within the confines of the law.

“We are calling on the members of the House to reconvene and elect a new speaker. We are not lobbying for anybody, but we want a leadership in the house. There must be checks and balances but it’s unfortunate that members of the House have become subservient at the dictates of the governor,” he said.

He called on the members of the house to as a matter of urgency reconvene and elect a new speaker or else electorates across the state would be mobilise to decide on them. “We can’t allow this kind of thing to be happening as if none of the members have been to school.

“Tarabans are enlightened people and we can’t allow this kind of impunity where people do things at will without recourse to law to continue,” he warned.

The APC state chairman who said the PDP led government in the state has so far performed surprisingly poor, noted that the long adjournment was affecting every facet of governance in the state as there were no longer checks and balances in the system.

It could be recalled that since the ruling of the Appeal Court on December 25 last year, the House has been operating without a speaker.