11 Bauchi House members elect speaker

PAUL OMOKUVIE, Bauchi

Eleven out of the 31 elected members of the 9th Bauchi State House of Assembly on Thursday elected Abubakar Suleiman as the Speaker of the House.

The All Progressives Congress has 22 members, while the ruling People’s Democratic Party, has 8 members and the New Nigeria People’s Party has one.

The Clerk of the House, Yusuf Gital, presided over the sitting of the House by 11 members out of 31 members of the House.

There was a heavy presence of a combined team of security agencies inside and outside the premises of the House.

Suleiman, the member representing Ningi Central Constituency (APC), emerged unopposed after he was nominated and seconded.

Also elected was Danlami Kawule representing Zungur/Galambi as the Deputy Speaker.

Earlier scheduled to be inaugurated on Monday, the inauguration was adjourned to Thursday.

Following the adjournment, the APC alleged that it was a plot by the state government and the People’s Democratic Party to hijack the process, an allegation the party refuted saying the clerk wrote requesting for the adjournment because of logistics.

The APC had also alleged that the state government’s plan became more obvious when it removed the Clerk of the House few days to the inauguration. Also in a swift reaction, the PDP said it was a strange thing but part of the civil service procedure.

Suleiman on Monday issued a statement stating that his party, the APC, had met with all the 22 members of the party and directed them to re-elect the former Speaker, Kawuwa Damina.

He, however, insisted in the statement that he would contest against his party’s preferred candidate.

The clerk, Yusuf Gital, read the letter of the proclamation from the state governor, Bala Mohammed.

In his acceptance speech, the new Speaker, Abubakar Suleiman, promised to do his best to tackle the problems in the house.

He said: “As Speaker, I promised to do my best for the service of Bauchi and Nigeria. There are a lot of problems in this House; I will do my best to tackle them.

“I will make sure we have a good rapport with the executive and the legislature.”