Lawyers and Civil Society Organisations in Kaduna State have expressed concern over delay to elect a new speaker for Kaduna State House of Assembly (KDHA) several weeks after an Appeal Court judgment voided the incumbent’s election.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that in November the Court of Appeal in Abuja nullified the election of Mr Yusuf Liman and ordered a rerun in five polling units of the state in his constituency.
This followed e petition filed by Mr Solomon Katuka, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Makera constituency.
Alhaji Lawal Balarabe, a private legal practitioner and former Member of the state legislature, told NAN on Wednesday in Zaria that the delay in electing a new speaker was bad omen for democracy.
He added that the office of the speaker has become vacant by virtue of the court judgment over an election petition and members ought to have elected a new speaker immediately.
Balarabe, who was also former Chairman, Zaria Local Government Council, said the delay was an indication that the office has been reserved for the sacked member pending the outcome of (a yet to be decided) re-run election.
“This is illegal and unconstitutional to have an acting speaker when there was a court judgment attacking the validity of the election of the member occupying the office of the speaker.
“It is therefore a clarion call to key stakeholders to rise against this and ensure that the KDHA gets a substantive speaker,’’ Balarabe said.
Similarly, Mr Hussaini Abdu, a private legal practitioner in Zaria, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should expedite action to comply with the court order to remove the vacuum created due to the judgment.
The legal practitioner said the agreement of sharing political positions should be sustained in the state in the interest of fairness and stability.
”Each side of the state should be carried along; every part of the state should have a sense of belonging.
“It is paramount that posts should be distributed according to the landscape of the state; it is in accord with the principles of federal character and the constitution,” Abdu said.
In a separate interview with NAN, Alhaji Magaji Baba, the National President of Equity Alliance, an NGO, said the vacuum created by the court judgment offered an additional opportunity for the state to adjust its political power sharing formula.
He explained that each of the three zones in the state maintain either the position of the governor, deputy governor or speaker of the House of Assembly.
He, however, lamented that the incumbent governor and the sacked speaker are all from Kaduna Central Zone, thereby undermining the Northern zone, hence the need to elect the new speaker from Zone one.
NAN also reports that Concerned Zaria Citizens, a political pressure group, and other stakeholders across Kaduna North (Zone 1) have urged Gov. Uba Sani and other key players to support a member from the zone as new speaker of the state legislature.
