The crisis rocking Bauchi State House of Assembly may have come to an end as the leader of a faction and former Speaker of the Assembly, Kawuwa Shehu Damina, led 16 other members-elect to take oath of office and allegiance at a special session held on Friday night at about 8:00 pm.
The former Speaker, Kawuwa Damina, who was believed to be loyal to the former Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, led the remaining 16 members to take their oath of office and oath of allegiance and were inaugurated at the special session presided over by the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Danlami Ahmed Kawule.
Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, who was also at the Assembly complex as an observer when the members were inaugurated, told reporters that it was victory for democracy and the people of the state.
It would be recalled that the Bauchi State House of Assembly has been embroiled in a leadership crisis when elected members held parallel inaugurations, leading to the emergence of two factional Speakers.
While Abubakar Suleiman was elected by 13 Members with the Clerk presiding over the sitting on the floor of the Assembly Complex on June 20th, 2019, Damina was elected outside the Assembly complex by 18 Members under the symbol of a Mace.
The tussle had resulted in the intervention of the National Assembly (NASS) which sent a committee to Bauchi, led by Sarki Adar, on a fact-finding mission.
Sequel to the recommendation of the committee, NASS gave the state governor a 30-day ultimatum within which to issue a fresh proclamation for the election of the Speaker.
It threatened that failure to issue the proclamation within the stipulated time would result in NASS taking over the affairs of the House.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has 22 members in the Assembly; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has eight while the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has one.
