The Plateau State All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman, Rufus Bature has accused Governor Caleb Mutfwang of meddling in legislative affairs, resulting in the rejection of APC candidates awaiting swearing-in as lawmakers.
Bature’s allegations during a press briefing at the party’s Secretariat on Friday in Jos, centered on the swift swearing-in of nine out of 16 APC candidates who had been waiting since November 2023.
The situation stemmed from a mid-2023 Appeal Court ruling nullifying the election of 16 PDP state Assembly members due to party executive issues.
The court directed that the losing APC candidates be sworn in.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) subsequently complied with the order, and issued certificates of return to the said APC candidates in November last year.
However, Bature claimed that the newly sworn-in lawmakers were pressured to obey the governor’s directives and signed documents preventing them from impeaching him, among other conditions.
He warned of the consequences for members who allegedly agreed to leave the APC after being sworn in.
Bature also highlighted the dangers of imposing the current Speaker’s leadership and extending the tenure of local government transition committee chairmen.
“The document forced the newly sworn in Lawmakers to accept the leadership of the current Speaker; also to allow the extension of the tenure of the 17 local government transition Committee chairmen for the next six months,” he said.
Currently, the Plateau State House of Assembly is chaired by Gabriel Dewan, the only member of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) in the assembly.
When contacted on the telephone, the state Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), John Akans, simply said: “I am in a meeting we will discuss later.”
BusinessDay recalls that the speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Dewan had earlier on Friday sworn in nine out of the 16 APC members whom according to him have met the criteria to be sworn in.
