The Zamfara state House of Assembly says it has acted in good faith and in the exercise of its constitutional powers by suspending the chairman of Maradun Local Government Council, Alhaji Ahmad Abubakar.
The House’s Public Relations Officer(PRO), Malam Mustafa Jafaru-Kaura made the clarification while reacting to the allegations by the Maradun local government councillors at a news conference in Gusau on Tuesday that the House did the suspension in error.
News Agency Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state Assembly on July 31, suspended Abubakar for allegedly working against the state government’s directive on security matters.
The councillors in Maradun Local Government have last week at a news conference absolved Abubakar of complicity in the spate of insecurity in the area.
The councillors, who spoke under the aegis of Maradun Councillors Forum, said that Abubakar had no hand in the insecurity problems bedevilling the area and accused the Assembly of violating the extant laws governing local governments in the state.
According to Jafaru-Kaura, the attention of the house was drawn to “baseless untrue and unfounded allegations raised last week by the councillors forum of Maradun local government council regarding the suspension of the council’s chairman.
He said the state House of Assembly never took any decision that violated either the constitution or the standing rules of the House on the suspension of the chairman.
“If we recall, on the 30/07/2019 six petitioners all indigenes of Maradun local government area wrote an allegations against their local government chairman, Ahmad Abubakar of toying with sensitive security issue in that local government area.
“Considering the nature of the allegations, the House was left with no option than to invoke house’s rule order 8, rule 3, subsection 3, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, which allow the house to deliberate on the petition which subsequently led to the suspension of the chairman.
“The case was referred to the House committee on local government and chieftaincy affairs for investigation after which the assembly would take final action on the matter
“The suspension would continue pending the conclusion of investigation by the committee”, he said.
According to Jafaru-Kaura, the suspension was in line with order 8, rule 7 as contained in the house’s standing rules of 2012 (as amended).
Also section 7, sub section 1 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides for the powers of state house of assembly to suspend chairman or dissolve the local government council in every state of the federation.
“Section 101 of the same Constitution also provides for the powers of the state legislature to regulate its own procedure which is known as house standing rules.
“The provision of section 7(1), provides for the powers of the state under the law to ensure the existance, establishment, structure, composition, finance, and function of the local government within that state”, he explained.
“I ask the councillors forum, where did Zamfara state House of Assembly go wrong as regard to this matter.
“Therefore, I am using this medium to inform the general public that the Assembly did not in any way act outside the confines of the law by discharging its constitutional responsibilities with regard to the suspension of the Chairman of Maradun Local Government,” he said. (NAN)
