Nine Adamawa lawmakers impeach Speaker

A POLITICAL drama yesterday played out in Adamawa State as nine lawmakers sat in the Conference Hall of Government House and purportedly impeached the Speaker, Alhaji Ahmed Umaru Fintiri.

The nine lawmakers, who came to the Government House in an 18-seated Toyota Hilux bus belonging to the government, were ushered into the conference hall at exactly 3:27 p.m. by some members of staff of the Government House Protocol Department.

After they were seated, one of the Government House members of staff, Alhaji Bashir Ahmed, entered the Conference Hall with a tiny dry wood with the Nigerian Coat of Arm on top and laid it on a table to represent the official maze that was in custody of the Assembly Clerk.

A member representing Gombi Constituency, Mr. Jerry Kumdusi, moved a motion for the appointment of a protem Speaker in person of Mrs. Wala Fwa and the motion was seconded and she was ushered to the governor’s official table that was turned to Speaker’s seat.

The sitting, which was conducted like a well-rehearsed drama, elected Jerry Kumdusi as the new Speaker while Alhaji Umar Abdulkarim, representing Nassarawo/Binyeri, was elected as the Deputy Speaker.

The nine lawmakers claimed that they sat in the Government House because the complex was shut down by the Speaker.

The purported new Speaker (Kumdusi), while addressing the other eight members, said that majority of the members who signed the impeachment notice withdrew from the battle on grounds that they were intimidated.

He adjoined there nine members sitting for today [Wednesday]

Commenting on the action of the nine aggrieved members, the Deputy Speaker, Laori Bitrus Kwomati, blamed their action on lack of proper education on the position of the constitution.

He said the nine members are not only a disgrace to the rule of law, but have lower integrity, saying that the Nigerian voters should learn from the attitude of the Adamawa nine lawmakers and vote people that can read and understand the position of law for effective legislative activities.

The Speaker, Fintiri, who described the action of the nine members as not only embarrassing to the state, but that they were turning Adamawa Assembly into a film acting centre, said nine members out of 25 cannot stop the legislative activities of the House.

“All the Speakers impeached in our Assembly were all removed on the floor of the House, but I wonder why the nine members choose Government House which is another different arm of government. This is a clear case that these nine members are not well educated on the position of the law”, he stated.

He said that the House would continue today (Wednesday) with its sitting to discuss issues that affect the lives of Adamawa people.