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The Kebbi State House of Assembly has impeached its Speaker, Hassan Shalla and re-appointed former Speaker Habib Jega, who was hitherto controversially impeached.
The impeachment proceeding against Speaker Shalla was carried out in the absence of him and his deputy.
The impeachment was chaired by a member, Abubakar Sabo, representing Birnin Kebbi North constituency.
Speaker Hassan Shalla, was impeached for alleged breach of trust and embezzlement of allowances of his colleagues.
Twelve of the 24 members of the house were in attendance at the sitting, and supported the impeachment.
At the sitting, the motion for Mr. Shalla’s impeachment was moved by Aminu Gumbi from Yauri constituency and seconded by Aliyu Mutubare from Kalgo constituency.
A member and former Speaker, Habib Jega, who was impeached in a controversial manner in December 2014, was re-appointed speaker via a motion moved by Bala Danbaba Waje.
Early last week, members of the Kebbi State House of Assembly commenced fresh moves to impeach Speaker Hassan Mohammed Shalla.
A source said the Speaker “refused to resign honourably despite calls by some members who were delegated to visit him and persuade him to do so.”
The source said, “The members are working on getting 15 out of the 24 members of the House to form 2/3 majority for the exercise.”
While the plan was underway, the state Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, BarristerAminu Usman, at a press conference last week presented an unsigned letter on behalf of the Clerk of the Assembly, Alhaji Shehu Randali, declaring seats of lawmakers who defected to the APC vacant.
The Solicitor General said: “Alhaji Shehu Randali has announced that all members of the Kebbi State House of Assembly who defected from PDP to APC will lose their seats. Their seats are thereby declared vacant with effect from the date they indicated in their letters forwarded to the state secretariat of PDP.
“Alhaji Shehu Randali also drew attention to the Supreme Court judgment which states that any elected member who defects to another political party will lose his/her seat.
“Alhaji Shehu also uses this opportunity to inform the general public and remind legislators that the House of Assembly is on a two-week recess as resolved at its last plenary session held on Tuesday, April 14, 2015,” added.
But when contacted, the Clerk of the House expressed shock and denied knowledge of the letter.
He said as a civil servant, he would not be dragged into partisan politics, just as he added that he had no powers to order any member to vacate his seat.
With today’s successful impeachment of Speaker Shalla, whether the Assembly can convene such a meeting in the absence of the speaker and whether 12 of 24 members of the Assembly can impeach the speaker remains to be seen in a legal frame.
