Abok removed as Plateau Speaker, suspended before defecting to PDP – APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State says it is not surprised by the reported defection of former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Ayuba Abok to the Peoples Democratic Party.

In a statement by the Publicity Secretary, Sylvanus Namang, on Sunday, the APC said Abok’s hobnobbing with the PDP was one of the reasons he was impeached as speaker of the state assembly in October 2021.

The statement said the former speaker is at the moment suspended from the house due to financial misappropriation.

“While it is the prerogative of the former speaker to join any political association of his choice, the APC wishes to put on record that it is aware that Hon. Abok has for long been far from the party that gave him the mandate to contest and win election to the House of Assembly in 2019 which also enabled him to be given the privilege as first among equals to lead the state legislature.

“His open romance with the PDP minority opposition members in and out of the Assembly; total disregard for the APC leadership and its structures in the state; disdain for its members in the legislature; as well as antagonism to the state governor, are clear evidences of his betrayal and deliberate attempt to betray the mandate of the people given to him under the platform of the APC,” Namang said.

“The APC wishes to remind the public and well-meaning Nigerians that these and other infractions, including the mismanagement of the House finances, were some of the reasons that members  constitutionally applied for his impeachment in October 2021 and subsequent election of Rt. Hon. Yakubu Sanda as the new Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly.

“Abok who was subsequently suspended by the House for alleged subversion and holding an illegal sitting at an event centre in an obscure location in Bukuru, using a fake mace as well as using thugs to forcefully break into the Assembly complex thereby causing damage to the facility, remains suspended till date as the House is yet to lift his suspension.

“Therefore, the narrative circulating in the social media purporting that ‘Plateau Speaker Defects to PDP’ is not only misleading, but mischievous and an attempt to deceive the gullible public by creating a sense of loss to the APC.”