The Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress APC has called for the immediate rescinding of the purported declaration of the seat of the Minority Leader and member representing Talata Mafara South Constituency, hon. Aliyu Ango Kagara as vacant, by the state House of Assembly.
The House at Tuesday’s sitting, 28th January under the leadership of Hon. Bilyaminu Ismail Moriki, has declared the seat of an APC member vacant, the development which the affected party threatened court action.
In a swift reaction by the Zamfara State APC headquarters through it’s Publicity Secretary, Malam Yusuf Idris, described the action as undemocratic as it is just purported to silence the opposition in the house, this, “we condemned it in totality, the Assembly should immediately withdraw the dismissal or face the court.
“The same Bilyaminu’s house leadership suspended nine other members from the house on 8th January last year, 2024 illegally without recourse to the constitutional provision or house standing rules and all the salaries and allowances of the affected honourable members were withheld just for voicing out their constituents security challenges before the house which considered a crime by the house leadership.
“It is sad to note that, the law makers, majority of who are from the PDP have been fighting and terrorizing even their own members who refused to dance to their tunes had undemocratically faced with suspension and other threats but keep silent having come from the same party would expect the APC to be quiet when harassed.
“The members who expected Kagara’s seat to be declared vacant are either ignorant of the laws or adamant to the fact that Hon Aliyu Ango Kagara was inaugurated as a member representing Talata Mafara South on 8th June, 2023 as a member of the 7th Assembly of Zamfara State making the legislative year’s span from June to June for four years.
“And 2023 has ended we are now in the second legislative year from June 2024 to June 2025, now six moths old with the house currently on recess since September last year, due to ongoing house renovation which even trapped the 2025 Appropriation bill presentation compelling it into a matter of public importance and reopened the house to allow the Governor to present the budget proposal before it.
“Because of their selfish interests, they deliberately forgot that in the second legislative year, the house only sat for 2 months because in the first four months, they were on renovation recess while the remaining six months are yet to come and they blindly went ahead and declared vacant a ranking house member’s seat who was elected into the house for the fourth time.
“Confirming their ignorance, that before declaring or removing any member, it requires constitutional interpretation and certain processes that must be followed and not an arbitrary announcement of unconstitutional removal.
“The state assembly also need to explain to the electorate, how many times they sat to take effective decisions in the House of Assembly which has been moving from one place to another and only come together on a short notice to meet in secretive and take the bidding of their master who has since turned them into rubber stamps that are only convenient to some PDP members.
“Similarly, any member found in violation of the house rules must be given fair hearing preceding on any action and not the blindly folded action of those members who think their uniformed act would supercede the law.
“The APC as a party, while calling on the National Assembly to call the Zamfara State House of Assembly to order, wishes to caution the state legislature over this matter that may lead to taking them to court with claims of damages and order for apologies clamped on them” the statement has stressed.
