The Plateau State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed the news of the defection of the impeached speaker of the state House of Assembly, Abok Nuhu Ayuba, from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a statement signed by the state publicity secretary of the party, Mr Sylvanus Namang, titled: “Defection of former speaker Ayuba Abok to PDP”, the party noted that while it is the prerogative of Abok to join any political party of his choice, the APC wished to put on record that it is aware that Hon Abok has for long been far from the party that gave him the mandate to contest and win election to the House of Assembly in 2019.
Namang argued that his open romance with the PDP minority opposition members in and out of the Assembly; total disregard for the APC leadership and its structures in the state; disdain for its members in the legislature; as well as antagonism to the state governor, are clear evidences of his betrayal and deliberate attempt to betray the mandate of the people given to him under the platform of the APC.
He said APC wished to remind the public and well-meaning Nigerians that these and other infractions, including the mismanagement of the House finances, were some of the reasons that members constitutionally applied for his impeachment in October 2021 and subsequent election of Hon Yakubu Sanda as the new speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
The APC spokesman further noted that Hon Abok who was subsequently suspended by the House for alleged subversion and holding an illegal sitting at an event centre in an obscure location in Bukuru, using a fake mace as well as using thugs to forcefully break into the Assembly complex thereby causing damage to the facility, remains suspended till date as the House is yet to lift his suspension.
“Therefore, the narrative circulating in the social media purporting that ‘Plateau Speaker Defects to PDP’ is not only misleading, but mischievous and an attempt to deceive the gullible public by creating a sense of loss to the APC,” he added.
He said, “Abok has since his impeachment in 2021 ceased to be the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly. He has since then not been sighted in any activities of the House at its temporary sitting venue. “