ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS, PLATEAU STATE CHAPTER,
KALWA HOUSE,
YAKUBU GOWON WAY,
JOS.
TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY HON. SYLVANUS NAMANG, PLATEAU STATE APC STATE PUBLICITY SECRETARY ON 13TH APRIL, 2023.
RT.HON. NUHU ABOK AYUBA, FORMER PLHA SPEAKER SHOULD ALLOW PEACE TO REIGN IN PLATEAU STATE.
The All Progressives Congress, APC Plateau State Chapter is highly disturbed and disappointed by the untoward developments playing out at the Plateau State House of Assembly where its peace and serenity is being wantonly tampered with once again following a strange Judgment of a High Court sitting in Jos.
The said Judgment purportedly reinstated Hon. Nuhu Abok Ayuba, a former Member of the Plateau State House of Assembly as Speaker of the State House of Assembly, despite being no longer a Member of that Assembly.
The APC would like, for the benefit of watchers of political events in Plateau State, to refresh their memories on developments which led to the exit of Hon. Nuhu Abok Ayuba as the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
Hon. Nuhu Abok Ayuba was Speaker of the State House of Assembly from June 2019. He was removed by his colleagues following series of allegations bothering on financial misappropriation to non- convening of sittings, thus stalling vital Legislative activities including the passage of the State Budget.
In his place, Hon. Yakubu Sanda, Member Representing Pengana constituency of Bassa LGA was unanimously elected Hon. Speaker at Plenary Session on Thursday 28th October, 2021.
Though the former Speaker wanted to stay put, when it dawned on him that his impeachment was real as a new Speaker had since taken over, he went down on his knees to plead for leniency and for the Members to allow him resign instead in order to save his political career as a young politician who was still learning the ropes, an appeal which they acceded to.
Three days after, vide a hand-written Letter, on 1st November, 2021, Hon. Nuhu Abok Ayuba resigned as Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
Long before then, he was glaringly known to be hobnobbing with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State. He was to later summon courage, on 13th March 2022, to take the plunge when in a Letter addressed to his Jos East Ward Chairman of APC with much fanfare, he officially withdrew his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in his words “with immediate effect” and that he had defected to the opposition PDP in the State.
The Jos East APC Chairman in a Letter dated 18th March, 2022, informed the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of Nuhu Abok Ayuba’s withdrawal of his membership of the APC and of his joining the PDP.
The State APC Chairman thereupon, wrote a Letter on 21st March 2022, notifying the Plateau State House of Assembly of Hon. Nuhu Abok Ayuba’s defection to the PDP.
The Letter was titled, ” THE DEFECTION OF HON. NUHU ABOK AYUBA , MEMBER REPRESENTING JOS EAST CONSTITUENCY AND REQUEST FOR THE DECLARATION OF HIS SEAT VACANT”
The APC Chairman drew the attention of the Hon. Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly to the provision of Section 109(1)g of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) which provides for the consequence of defection of a Member where there is no Faction in the Party that sponsored him (the APC in this case), being the declaration of his Seat vacant and vacation of the Seat.
On 22nd March, 2022, the House received a communication from the APC State Chairman seeking the declaration of Hon. Abok’s Seat vacant. By the Votes and Proceedings No 46 of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Nuhu Abok Ayuba ceased to be a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly .
The declaration of his Seat vacant was communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a Letter dated 22nd March, 2022 signed by the Clerk of the House, Longbap Ponven Wuyep titled, “NOTIFICATION OF VACANCIES IN JOS EAST AND RUKUBA/ IRIGWE CONSTITUENCIES OF THE PLATEAU STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY”
The Rukuba/ Irigwe Constituency Seat, on the other hand, became vacant as a result of its Member in the House of Assembly, Hon. Peter Agah resigning to contest the Jos North/ Bassa Federal Constituency Seat which became vacant following the demise of the then Member, the late Haruna Maitala.
Due to its crowded schedules, INEC was unable to conduct bye- elections to fill the vacant Seats of Jos East and Rukuba /Irigwe Constituencies before the 2023 General Elections that have now produced a new set of Members-elect for the State Assembly.
It would interest the world to know that the Suit in which the Court recently gave what Lawyers say was essentially a Default Judgment, (the Court having curiously shut out the Defendants’ Motions challenging the Jurisdiction of the High Court to entertain the Matter as well as the Locus Standi of the Busy-body Plaintiffs, Hon. Gwottson D. Fom and Hon. Tyem Pirfa Jingfa to institute the Suit) was not instituted by the former Speaker, Nuhu Abok Ayuba himself!
He was also sued as a Defendant to the Suit! He neither sought any Prayer before the Court nor did he enter a Defence to the Suit.
Ordinarily and to all intents and purposes, the Suit became Academic the moment Nuhu Abok Ayuba ceased to be a Member of the State House of Assembly, in as much as the object of filing the Suit by the Plaintiffs was to restore him back to Office as Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly!
Curiously and most shockingly on 3rd day of April, 2023, the State was hit with the Judgment of Justice N. L. Musa in the said Suit No: PLD/ J585/2021 instituted by Hon. Gwottson D. Fom and Hon. Tyem Pirfa Jingfa against Nuhu Abok Ayuba and 15 others.
Judgment was purportedly passed in favour of the former Speaker purportedly restoring him back to the Office of Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly- an Assembly he had since 22nd March, 2022, ceased to be a Member of , his Seat having been declared Vacant in line with the provisions of Section 109(1) g and 109(2) of the 1999 Constitution ( as amended)!
The Court amongst others, ordered the payment to Abok all salaries, emoluments and bonuses as Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly from 28th October 2021 “until when his tenure ends”.
Several Legal Luminaries have maintained that it is clearly settled in law that the Court cannot act as “Father Christmas” that can grant reliefs to a person who has not sought them! Moreso, we are assured that the Orders made by the Court can only be validly made by the National Industrial Court which has jurisdiction on issues relating to salaries, entitlements, emoluments and benefits of Public Officers and Political Office holders such as Hon. Nuhu Abok Ayuba.
From the foregoing, the question that must be asked is, can Nuhu Abok Ayuba who has since ceased to be a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly be ordered by any Court to return to Office as Speaker?At the risk of repetition, but for the sake of emphasis and clarity, it is an irrefutable fact that during the pendency of the Suit in question, a Suit to which Nuhu Abok was a Defendant, he resigned his membership of the APC and his Seat in the House was declared vacant which vacancy was communicated to INEC.
Following the Defendants’ dissatisfaction with the High Court Judgment of 3rd April, 2023, Counsel representing the Plateau State Government as well as the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Sanda, the Clerk of the House and 10 other Members of the House of Assembly immediately filed a Notice of Appeal and a Motion for Stay of Execution of the judgment and Injunction which processes were served on the Sheriff of the High Court who has the responsibility to enforce the Judgment.
Service was also effected on Abok both electronically and physically.
Without waiting for execution of the Judgment by due process of Law, the former Speaker and former member of the House of Assembly, Nuhu Abok Ayuba hurriedly volunteered to serve as courier to deliver a copy of the enrolled Order of the Court to the Clerk of the House immediately after the delivery of the judgment and forcefully entering the Office of the Speaker!
He has since insisted that he has executed the Judgment claiming further, that the judgment of the Court was Declaratory and not Executory, hence there was no need for him to go through the judgment enforcement procedure known to law beyond forcing himself into the Speaker’s Office and claiming to have resumed as “Speaker”.
Talk of the absurdity of one being ” Speaker” in a House of Assembly one is not a Member of !
For the avoidance of doubt, and for the benefit of other ill- informed persons, the Court (having struck out all the Processes filed by the Defendants), in its Judgment, granted all the reliefs claimed by the Plaintiffs, except relief (I) on exemplary damages where it awarded N20,000,000.00 against the Defendants.
The EXECUTORY Orders granted by the Court were: AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the 2nd defendant from parading himself as the Honourable Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
AN ORDER OF MANDATORY INJUNCTION directing the 2nd to 16th defendants to recognize the 1″ Defendant, Rt. Hon. Abok Nuhu Ayuba as the Honourable Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly and accord him all the rights and privileges of his Office.
AN ORDER OF MANDATORY INJUNCTION directing the 5th defendant to unseal the premises of the Plateau State House of Assembly and restore access to members of the Public.
EXEMPLARY DAMAGES in the sum of N 20,000.000.00 (Twenty million naira) against the 2nd to 16th Defendants jointly and severally.
The Questions begging for Answers;
Can Nuhu Abok who has since ceased to be a Member of the Plateau State House of Assembly be ordered by the Court to return to Office as Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly?
Can the High Court of Plateau State decide on issues of Salaries and Allowances claimed to be due to a member of the State House of Assembly? What about Section 254C of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) which provides that matters that border on emoluments, salaries, entitlements, are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National industrial Court of Nigeria (NIC)?
As earlier indicated, following the dissatisfaction of the Defendants with the Judgment of the Court, Counsel to the Commissioner of Police (5th Defendant) and Counsel to the Plateau State Government as well as the sitting Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Sanda; the Clerk of the House and ten(10) other Members of the House sued as Defendants, immediately filed Notices of Appeal and Motions for Stay of Execution and for Injunction which processes were duly served on Abok and the Deputy Sheriff of the High Court who has the responsibility to enforce the Judgment.
By the way, up till this moment, Nuhu Abok Ayuba is yet to take any steps towards the enforcement of the, no doubt, Executory Judgment.
His insistence that the Judgment of the Court is Declaratory and not Executory, hence there was no need for him to go through the Judgment enforcement Procedure known to Law, shows the shallowness of his knowledge of the Law, a field which he has supposedly acquired a Degree in recently!
The matter does not even end there. By Order IV, Rule 1(2) of the Judgment Enforcement Rules, no process of execution of a Judgment such as the one in question shall be issued by the Court until the expiration of 3 days from the date of Judgment.
The Judgment was delivered on 3rd April, 2023. The three days would have elapsed by midnight of Thursday, the 6th. of April. Therefore, the earliest date for the enforcement of the Judgment, even by the Sherriff of Court would have been Friday the 7th April, 2023 or thereafter!
Before then, the Notice of Appeal and Motion for Stay of Execution and Injunction to restrain Abok from execution was filed and served on him on Tuesday, the 4th April, 2023!
On the said 4th April 2023, Abok, despite having long ceased to be a Member of the House of Assembly with the support of Members of the PDP, invaded the House of Assembly under the guise of a Court-restored “Speaker” despite being a non- Member of the House, since the court did not and could not have restored him as Member, having never challenged the earlier declaration of his Seat as Vacant upon decamping from the APC to the PDP!
For Hon. Nuhu Abok, the non-Member but Court-declared “Speaker” who has been duly served with the Notice of Appeal and Motion for Stay of Execution of the Judgment/Injunction to resort to self-help by storming the House in Commando Style and pretending to be back to Office as Speaker outside the known procedure for enforcement of Judgments under Nigerian Law, is simply an invitation to chaos and anarchy which has no place in any society governed by the Rule of Law.
The APC as a Law abiding Party, hereby calls on the Commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, who by the way had also filed a Notice of Appeal and a Motion for Stay of Execution of the Judgment duly served on all Parties in the Suit, to put a stop to the excesses of Hon. Nuhu Abok Ayuba and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is enabling and encouraging him in his exhibition of lawlessness.
The Plateau State Command is duty bound to provide security and protection to the legitimate Members of the State House of Assembly to enable them continue to discharge their statutory duty of Law-making, devoid of any interference by hoodlums and imposters such as Nuhu Abok.
The APC is keenly watching to see how this Theatre of the absurd playing out and orchestrated by Nuhu Abok Ayuba and the PDP pans out.
Kwararafa Reporters 