The Government of Adamawa State on Thursday said it recognized the new leadership of the state’s House of Assembly
It, however, denied the allegation that the state Governor, Bala Ngilari, was instrumental to the impeachment of the speaker of the House and his deputy on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls nine lawmakers out of the 25 in the assembly sat at “plenary” at a hall in Government House, Yola and announced that they had impeached the Speaker, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, and his deputy, Loari Kwamoti.
They immediately replaced the “impeached” officers with Jerry Kundisi as speaker and Umar Abdulkarim as deputy speaker.
The Director of Public Affairs to Ngilari, Phineas Elisha, told newsmen in Yola that as far as the governor was concerned, there was a change in the leadership of the House of Assembly and that the new Speaker was Kundisi.
Elisha said: “As far as His Excellency is concerned, the new Speaker is Honourable Jerry Kundisi and for now that is the government position.
“This clarification has become very necessary following what happened.
“His Excellency, Bala Ngilari, wants to state clearly that what happened in the state’s House of Assembly is the House’s internal affairs.
“There is no interference from the state government or the state governor himself as a person.”
On the sitting by Kundisi’s group in the Government House, Elisha said it was due to the continuous closure of the House of Assembly.
According to him, the group had to look for a secure place and that was why they chose the Government House on their own for security reason.
Elisha described the sitting at the assembly complex, on Wednesday, by Fintiri’s group, as unnecessary.
He said the resolutions it passed at the sitting, including the one directing the state government to recall the dismissed Director-General of the state’s Bureau for Public Procurement, was of no effect.
He maintained that as far as the Adamawa State Government was concerned, Fintiri was now a former speaker and that any sitting of the House presided by him would not be recognized by the government.
Elisha denied allegation that the sacked BPP boss, Mallam Bello Umar, was removed for querying dubious contracts by the administration.
He said Umar was sacked for revealing official secrets to the media in violation of his oath of office.