Zamfara: Constituents call for reinstatement of 8 suspended lawmakers
From Ibrahim Kaulahi, Gusau
Hundreds of constituents have staged a peaceful demonstration in Gusau Zamfara State capital seeking an immediate reinstatement of 8 lawmakers who had been suspended by the State House of Assembly.
Speaking on behalf of people of Maru local government during the demonstration, Abdullahi Saifullahi, called for Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State to for the sake maintaining peace in the state, intervene to ensure the ongoing crisis in the State House of Assembly is amicably solved.
Saifullahi further cried that, the constituencies of the various local government areas where the suspended honorable members represent are left isolated in running the affairs of the Assembly, therefore, are currently not benefitting any dividend of democracy being executed by the State Government.
Also speaking, the Youths Leader of Tsafe west, Bashiru Adamu, lamented the prolonged suspension of their representatives in the House of Assembly, saying, it is unfair to suspend a honorable member representing thousands of constituents for a period of five months even without payments of their constitutional entitlements.
“The absence of our representatives in the State House of Assembly means his constituency sidelined in all the projects executed by the State Government for the development of the state.
“It is not fair to our constituencies while running the affairs of the State Government and of course the House of Assembly without our representatives as our demands could not be identified for subsequent legislative presentation as being done to other constituencies in the state”, he added.
“We abandoned all our businesses on election day and voted in their favor been we strongly believe they can forward our demands to the House of Assembly which would subsequently be considered in the budget planned by the State Government for execution, now we left isolated.
It would be recalled honorable members representing Maru north, Gummi east, Bukkuyum north, Bungudu west, Tsafe west, Maradun 1, Talataa Mafara north and Bakura were suspended by the House over various allegations against them.
The protesters who later matched to the State House of Assembly where the peaceful demonstration terminated were not attended to by any official of the Assembly.
