LAGOS – The Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Gabriel Dewan, has officially sworn in the remaining five members of the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC).
The lawmakers were part of the 15 APC members and one Labour Party member who were declared victors by the Appeal Court in November of the year before.
The legislators who took the oath of office are Owen Dagogot (representing Qua’an-Pan North constituency), Theodore Maiyaki (representing Qua’an-Pan South constituency), Yakubu Sanda (representing Pengana constituency), Dachung Dadon (representing Riyom constituency), and Dalyop Gyang (representing Shendam South constituency).
This event happened during a plenary session on Wednesday at the old government house.
It’s worth noting that back on April 5, the speaker had sworn in nine members who had signed undated resignation letters.
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However, the remaining seven lawmakers-elect stated they weren’t sworn in because they refused to sign such letters, although two of them were sworn in separately last week.
In response to the prolonged delay, former governor Simon Lalong and other party members expressed strong discontent about the speaker not administering the oath to their members, alleging that he was following Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s orders, a claim the state government has refuted.
Considering these happenings, the acting spokesperson for the state APC, Shittu Bamaiyi, mentioned that the speaker has essentially deprived the constituencies of the impacted members of their constitutional right to representation for close to eight months.
“Nevertheless, with the swearing-in occurring today (Wednesday) of the remaining members, the House is now complete, embodying all the attributes of a legislative body. The APC and its loyal supporters take pride in presenting this caliber of lawmakers and anticipate high-quality, vigorous, and valuable discussions in the newly enhanced House,” he remarked.
The Plateau State House of Assembly now consists of 24 members; 22 from the APC, one from the Labour Party, and the Speaker from the Young People’s Party (YPP).
