Plateau speaker, leader impeached

The Plateau State House of Assembly yesterday impeached Speaker Peter Azi and replaced him with the Chief Whip, Joshua Madaki (Jos East).

House Majority Leader Henry Yinkwap was also impeached by 12 out of the 17 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who voted in Nanlong Daniel (Mikang).

The impeachment took Azi by surprise when 20 out of the 24-member house presented him with a signed impeachment document accusing him of incompetence and then passed a vote of no confident on him.

Members had told Daily Trust that previous attempts to impeach Azi had been marred by frequent intervention of the executive and the ruling APC.

However, at the plenary yesterday, the member representing Barkin Ladi, Peter Gyendeng of the Peoples Democratic Party, presented a signed impeachment document to Azi, forcing him to step down.

Deputy Speaker Saleh Yipmong who presided over the proceeding, asked for nominations after which the former Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Gagdi (Kantana constituency) nominated Joshua Madaki whose nomination was unanimously accepted through a voice vote.

In his acceptance speech, the new speaker, Madaki, promised to move the house forward; while the new majority leader, Nanlong, assured them of positive changes.

However, member representing Jos Northnorth, Ibrahim Baba Hassan, said the house should have given Azi the opportunity to resign, saying“this is part of change, he has done his best for the house, it is now time for a new person.”