Kaduna: Speaker impeached, new speaker elected
By Adeola Ayinde
Usman Gangara was removed by 19 of the Kaduna 34 lawmakers.
The Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Usman Gangara (PDP, Giwa East) and his deputy Dogara Mato (PDP, Lere) have been impeached.
Mr. Gangara had survived two impeachment attempts, while the time given him by his colleagues to voluntarily resign had lapsed.
An acting speaker, Philimon Mana (PDP, Makera), who presided after the impeachment, announced the election of Shehu Tahir (PDP, Giwa West) and Peter Adamu (PDP, Kagarko) as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.
Kantiok Isiaku (PDP, Zonkwa) moved the motion for impeachment; and was seconded by Yakubu Yusuf (APC, Zaria Kewaye).
The eight principal officers who were absent at the sitting, and all standing committees were dissolved by the new speaker.
A total of 19 out of 34 members of the assembly agreed to the impeachment.
“The quorum of members required for the impeachment is 13, but the house had 19,” the speaker said in an interview with journalists.
The new speaker said the impeachment was not influenced by Vice President Namadi Sambo, who is a former governor of Kaduna and wields lots of influence in the state.
He said the appointment of new principal officers will be announced soon