The Benue State House of Assembly has suspended its immediate past Speaker, Hyacinth Aondona Dajoh, for three months.
This comes barely a day after Dajoh resigned from office.
The decision was taken during plenary presided over by the new Speaker, Alfred Emberga.
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Dajoh was accused of plotting to impeach Governor Hyacinth Alia, a development that prompted the Assembly to slam the suspension.
The motion for his suspension was moved by Emmanuel Shimawua representing Vandeikya Kyan state constituency and seconded by Abu Umoru James of Apa constituency, both lawmakers who were themselves recalled from suspension on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Assembly also re-screened and confirmed two commissioner-nominees earlier rejected under Dajoh’s leadership, Prof. Timothy Yangien Ornguga and James Dwen.
The lawmakers in the same vein, recalled the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Grace Adagba; the Executive Chairman of Otukpo Local Government, Maxwell Ogiri; and the Executive Secretary of the State Lottery and Sporting Board, Michael Upper, who had all been on one-month suspension approved by Governor Alia.
Our correspondent reports that the Assembly has continued to witness political imbroglio in the past few days, beginning with the suspension on Friday of four lawmakers – Alfred Aondoaver Emberga (Makurdi North), Shimawua Emmanuel (Vandeikya 2), Cyril Ikong (Oju 2), and Abu Umoru (Apa) – over alleged conspiracy and an attempt to remove the former Speaker.
But, the decision was overturned on Sunday when 23 lawmakers, including Deputy Speaker Lami Danladi, who presided over the sitting, lifted the suspension of the four after setting aside the rules of the House to accommodate the emergency session.
A political analyst, Che Rex, remarked, “These are ego battles that do not serve the people. What we need is peace in the Assembly to legislate good governance.”
Rex added that the days ahead would be very interesting in the political landscape of the state.