Nine members of Adamawa State House of Assembly believed to be loyal to Governor Bala James Nggilari sat at the conference hall of Adamawa Government House and ousted the Speaker,Umaru Fintiri.
As soon as the 9 lawmakers arrived the conference room, member representing Gombi constituency Hon Jerry Kumdisi moved for the appointment of Wale Fwa as Protem speaker and was seconded by member representing Girei constituency Abubakar Umar Girei.
While leading the session, the Protem speaker Fwa noted that the reason for convening of the session followed consistent refusal of Fintiri to open the house after series of entreaties made to him fell on deaf ears.
She added that majority of the lawmakers have lost confidence in the leadership of Fintiri as a result of which 17 lawmakers representing 2/3 of the lawmakers duly singed for the impeachment of the speaker and his deputy.
“All the members who signed the impeachment notice have resolved to remove the speaker and his deputy,” she noted.
It was at that point that member representing Verre constituency Hon. Salihu Kabillo moved for the impeachment of the speaker and his deputy leading to the removal of Fintiri.
After the removal Kabillo again moved for the nomination of Hon. Jerry Kumdisi as the new speaker of the house and was seconded by member representing Yola South, Hon Abuzarri Ribadu.
In his inaugural speech, Kumdisi pledged to end the era of impunity as was entrenched by Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s leadership which led to his eventual fall.
He promised to work in harmony with the executive arm of government as the relationship was earlier frosty which affected the people of the state adding that
Fintiri also ensured that the house has remained under lock and key for some months. He accused some of the lawmakers who failed to turn up for the impeachment as cowards adding that despite their failure to show up at the sitting the decision to impeach the leadership of the house remained sacrosanct as their signatures were duly appended and acknowledged.
The new speaker later moved for the adjournment of the sitting to Wednesday)at 10:00am.
Reacting to what he called a nullity, the embattled speaker of the house ,Fintiri said he remains the constitutionally recognized speaker of the assembly as those that claimed to have removed him from office did not follow due process of the law.
He said “It beats my imagination for nine lawmakers who are under the payroll of the governor of the state to sit down with a fake mace at the government house to effect my removal,”
He said the people of Adamawa state knows who their representatives are and called on the media to safeguard the truth and the constitution of Nigeria.
“Their action is a nullify as they did not follow the due process of the law. If they are right, they ought to come to the floor of the house and effect my removal not at government house,” he added.
In a swift reaction the alleged removed speaker Fintiri told reporters that he is still the speaker of the Adamawa House of Assembly, a seating was even done today and matters were delineated in House.
According to Fintiri he is not aware of any group or faction sat and moved a motion of his impeachment outside the Assembly hall an act that pricked his mind to suspect some evil plan against the people of Adamawa state using the 11 members by Executive Governor of the state to loot from the state treasury.
” It is illegal to hold an impeachment process outside the Assembly Hall. If need be , why must it be in Government House ? It shows the governor of the state is engineering them to remove me so as to steal (from)the confers of the state.
” We’ve been cooperating with the executive arm of government in the state ,where we support in passing of bills for the sake of the governor ,what else does he want at this point in time that is only 30 days is left out for handing over? Fintiri asked.
According to him this impeachment does not hold any waters, it does not have any constitutional back up, no any serious legislative process is adhered to for a perfect impeachment proceedings to take place as such he remain the speaker of the house with a scheduled seating to hold tomorrow (Wednesday).
” I am an elected speaker which was done in the state assembly complex and any impeachment to be carried out against me should be in the same hall of our meetings”,he added
