Editor
Some members of the Plateau State House of Assembly have reacted to the demand by the indigenes to impeach the Governor, Simon Lalong.
Prime Business African earlier reported that youths in Plateau State started a campaign to compel members of the House of Assembly to impeach Lalong over recent killings in the state.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe youths issued a 7-day ultimatum to the honourable members to act on their impeachment demand.
Reacting to this, the Assembly members explained that there was no constitutional ground to impeach the governor, adding that they would rather meet with the governor to find ways of addressing the security situation in the state.
Prime Business Africa called some members of the state’s House of Assembly, however only two answered their calls while most of the phones were switched off, and some others did not pick the calls.
Defending their decision not to impeach the governor, a member representing Barkin Ladi constituency, Hon. Peter Gyendeng, said, “We can’t just wake up and decide to impeach the governor without reasons. We must have the impeachable offences he has committed before we can look at that and there are processes involved. We are meeting with the governor to discuss the security issues in the state first and look for a way forward before we take any decision.”
Gyendeng stated that “Security is not a one man thing,” insisting that Lalong alone cannot protect the state.
“What the people are demanding from him is to speak out against the killings which he did yesterday. Though I am not speaking for him, but you can see even in Katsina it is happening, in Sokoto, Zamfara, almost everywhere. Now, what is the forward for us to keep our people safe is what we should be concerned about,” he said.
Gyendeng’s colleague, Hon. Musa Agah Aviah, representing Irigwe/Rukuba constituency, who echoed his sentiments, said the Assembly members met on Wednesday and nothing like impeachment was mentioned.
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He said, “That is the position of some people and you know impeachment is not something you can just wake up in a day and do, it is purely a constitutional issue. So if we as a House discover there are some constitutional breaches in the performance of his Excellency, maybe then we can think of something like that.
“But our resolution on the floor of the house yesterday was to ask governor to enforce or implement some of the resolutions we have been passing since 2019 geared towards enhancing the security and property of people.”
Plateau state has been in turmoil following the killing of 36 persons in an attack on the Yelwa Zangam community in the Jos North Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday. There have been several protests by youths in the state over the incessant killings.
