Daily Trust

Adamawa Assembly urges probe of govt, declares 3 seats vacant

- From Kabiru R. Anwar, Yola

Speaker of Adamawa State House of Assembly yesterday urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigat­e financial transactio­ns by the state government and declared the seats of three legislator­s vacant.

At a plenary yesterday, the Speaker, Ahmadu Fintiri, referred to Section 108 of the Constituti­on which he said empowered him to declare the seats vacant for defecting from the PDP and contesting elections on new political platforms.

Those affected include Adamu Usman representi­ng Toungo who defected from the PDP to the APC, Hamman Tukur Yettusuri representi­ng Jada/ Mbulo and Umar Abdulkarim representi­ng Nassarawo/Binyeri both of whom defected to the PDM.

The three members are part of the nine lawmakers who conducted parallel sittings in Government House and elected Jerry Kumdisi as the new speaker.

The House also passed a resolution directing Governor Bala Nggilari to reinstate the Director General of the State Bureau for Public Procuremen­t, Bello Umar, who was allegedly removed because he queried some suspicious transactio­ns by the state government.

The deputy Speaker, Kwamoti Laori, had raised a motion alleging that the government procured 50 Hilux vans and two refurbishe­d bullet proof Lexus jeeps at the cost of N400 million and N180 million respective­ly without due process.

He said investigat­ions showed that the actual cost of the jeeps is N35 million each as against N90 million.

Phineas Elisha, spokesman of Governor Nggilari, said the state government does not recognise Fintiri as speaker since the election of Kumdisi.

“We got the report about the change of leadership in the House of Assembly. Jerry Kumdisi is the new Speaker and Abdulkarim Umar is his deputy. The resolution passed under the former speaker is not legitimate and the government will not respect it”, he said.

He noted that the governor has the right to remove or redeploy the Director General or any appointee.

 ??  ?? From left: Vice President elect, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; President elect Muhammadu Buhari and Chairman Transition Committee, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, during the inaugurati­on of President Buhari’s Transition Committee in Abuja yesterday.
From left: Vice President elect, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; President elect Muhammadu Buhari and Chairman Transition Committee, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, during the inaugurati­on of President Buhari’s Transition Committee in Abuja yesterday.

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