Lawmaker accuses former Speaker of stealing mace

New Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly, Halliru Jika (M), with a member, Ibrahim Adamu (R), before their session in Bauchi, yesterday

A member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Harsanu Guyuba, representing Kirfi Constituency has said that the impeached speaker of the House, Abubakar Faggo, has stolen the mace of the House. Mr. Guyuba in an interview with the media yesterday at the end of the house sitting in Bauchi said that Mr. Faggo has stolen the original mace of the house leaving the house with no option but to use the substitute.

According to him, “Our mace is our mace. We have two mace in the House. We use one for our normal sittings and the second one is used as a substitute should something happen to the original one. Since he has stolen the original mace, we have no choice but to use the second mace which is proper based on our standing order.

“You would have noticed during our sitting that the sergeant-at-arms was not wearing any uniform. This is because his uniform was also stolen by the former speaker,” he alleged.

He however explained, when queried on the process of the impeachment, that the House did not give Mr. Faggo fair hearing before he was impeached because “the speaker was only removed because of his incompetence; all we are saying is that he is incompetent to lead us.”

Speaking on the court injunction served to the House which restrained the new speaker from parading himself as speaker until the determination of the court, Mr. Guyuba said: “We are an independent arm of government. While performing our oversight function, we don’t need to ask anybody. We only consult our constitution, that’s all.

Once you are served with a court order, you have a right to challenge it. When you don’t challenge it, it implies that you must obey it. But because we are challenging it, we are not bound by any law to obey it pending the order on notice.”

Discredit and affirmation

Also speaking in the interview, the embattled speaker of the House, Haliru Jika, said the House has not, in any way, done anything contrary to the law.

“We are guided by the constitution and the constitution clearly states out our functions,” he said. “What we are doing on the floor of the House is not in contempt with any court order or any law in this country.”

He denied knowledge that the House of Assembly was sealed off Tuesday by armed police officers thereby preventing members from sitting. He also dismissed the allegation by the Faggo-led House that signatures of some members who were impeached were forged. The one hour-sitting, which was presided by Mr. Jika, had 16 members in attendance.