• * 'I Won't, You Got It Wrong', Says Speaker

By Danjuma Williams (Gombe State Correspondent)

Some members of the Gombe State House of Assembly have asked their Speaker, Abubakar Luggerewo, to resign or step aside if he cannot coordinate the House to present their position to the National Assembly on the proposed alteration of the Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Seven of the members who jointly spoke to newsmen are accusing their Speaker of sinister moves by dragging his feet in mobilising the voices of the people of Gombe State to make their position on the proposed constitution review which deadline for submission to NASS ended Thursday, September 15, 2022.

Spokesman for the group, Honourable Ibrahim Rambi Ayala, Billiri East Constituency, who spoke on behalf of six others who appended their signature on a paper stating their resolution, also appealed the National Assembly for another opportunity to be able to collate and present the position of the State.

According to him, "We want to put it on record that the leadership of the House in particular, the Speaker, has been employing various tactics to frustrate the process and disenfranchise the good people of Gombe from making their voices heard through us their representatives".

He said after conducting a retreat for the members of the House and a public hearing, the Speaker wants to unilaterally drown the voices of the people of Gombe State on what he described as an important national duty.

He said all the State Houses of Assembly were expected to transmit all their position on or before the 15th of September, 2022 but regretted that, "the Gombe State House of Assembly had been under lock and and key and the Speaker is reluctant or has blatantly refused to convene a plenary for us to vote on the constitutional alteration".

The group therefore called for the convocation of plenary on Tuesday 20th September, 2022 to enable them to give concurrence to the bills for consideration.

Those that signed the statement and were present included: Yahaya Mohammed Kaka, Akko North constituency; Markus Samuel, Pero Chonge constituency; Bashir Barau Yakubu, Kaltungo West constituency; Bappah Usman, Funakaye South constituency; Tulfukut M Kardi, Billiri West constituency; Hamza Adamu, Balanga constituency and Rambi Ibrahim Ayala, Billiri East.

However, responding to the allegations, the Speaker, Abubakar Luggerewo denied the the allegations by the group of legislators, saying the House can only act on the matter after receiving the adhoc committee's report.

According to him, the group got it all wrong more so that the House under his leadership is ever ready to discharge their responsibility anytime the House receives the report.

On the submission deadline to the National Assembly, Luggerewo said it was the House that gave themselves the deadline of 15th September, 2022 and not the NASS adding that the NASS only asked them to submit before the commencement of political campaigns.

He said as at the moment, only 12 States have presented their positions promising that Gombe State House of Assembly will be the next to present it's position.

Among the 44 bills up for consideration to be affirmed by the Gombe State House of Assembly, Local Government Autonomy, Autonomy of the State Assembly, Autonomy of the State Judiciary, Compulsory and free education and Food Security, topped the priority. NNL.