From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The Benue House of Assembly has ordered the Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Grace Adagba, to step aside from her official duties to allow the house investigate the recruitment exercise embarked upon by the board.
This followed a motion moved by the Majority Whip, Mr. Peter Ipusu (APC/Katsina-Ala West) during plenary, yesterday.
Ipusu noted that the house adopted resolutions directing the chairman of the board to suspend the ongoing recruitment of primary school teachers to allow for investigation into controversies surrounding the exercise but the directive was ignored.
He stressed that a day after the resolution was duly conveyed, the chairman released a statement indicating that new cut off marks had been allocated to the various local governments based on their performance in the Computer Based Test (CBT) conducted by the board and subsequently shortlisted additional names for physical screening.
He said he was worried that the statement released by SUBEB was not only reactionary but disparaging of the honour of the assembly and its resolutions.
The motion was seconded by Mr. Alfred Berger, stating that the chairman lacked the integrity to continue to pilot the affairs of the board.
Berger added that the law establishing the board gave powers to the Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) to recruit teachers, emphasising that the process was decentralised and the department of quality assurance of the board only supervised it.
The motion was countered by the Majority Leader, Mr Saater Tiseer, saying the chairman should be given fair hearing on the matter.
He added that the day the chairman was to appear before the House, she was at the assembly by 10am as requested.
He advised his colleagues not to take decisions by prejudice, adding that they should take actions in line with the constitution.
The counter-motion was seconded by Anthony Agom (PDP/Okpokwu), who stated that the chairman should be allowed to explain herself.
Ruling, the Speaker, Mr Hyacinth Dajo, asked the Clerk, Mr John Hwande, to divide the house and the members who voted in favour of the motion were 21 while five members voted for the counter-motion.
He stated that the chairman should step aside and hand over to the Permanent Member I to allow the House carry out its investigation.
He further constituted a seven-man committee to investigate the exercise and report to the house within seven days.