A High Court in Plateau has sacked Speaker of the Plateau House of Assembly, Yakubu Sanda and ordered that the previous occupant, Abok Ayuba be reinstated as with immediate effect.
The presiding judge, Nafisa Musa described Ayuba’s impeachment as illegal, null and void.
The court also awarded N1.5 million as the cost of litigation and N138,000 as the cost of filing the suit.
Ayuba was impeached by eight lawmakers from the All-Progressives Congress and presided by the deputy speaker Saleh Yipmong on October 28, 2021.
He subsequently proceeded to ask the court to declare that his removal “as speaker of the Plateau state house of assembly by the votes of less than two-third majority of the 24 members which is, 16 members of the Plateau state house of assembly, was in violation of Section 92(2)(c) of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, Order 7 rule 14 of the Plateau State House of Assembly Standing Orders 2021 as amended.”
The court held that the figure did not meet the two-third majority of the 24 members which is 16 signatures required to impeach the Speaker.
