The attention of the APC Plateau State has been drawn to Fake News report making the rounds on the Social Media platforms that the Court of Appeal sitting in Jos on Friday 19th May, 2023 dismissed the Appeal filed by the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly Hon. Yakubu Sanda & 12 others, against the controversial Judgment of the High Court of Plateau State of 3rd May, 2023 which purportedly restored to Office the former Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly Hon. Nuhu Abok, even when the said Abok, upon decamping to the PDP, had long ceased to be a Member of the Plateau State House of Assembly, since 22nd March 2022, when, by the Votes and Proceedings No. 46 his Jos East State Constituency Seat was declared Vacant, in line with the provisions of Section 109(1)g and (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
For the avoidance of doubt, the Court of Appeal sitting in Jos, on Friday 19th May, 2023, owing to the presence of the Respondents in Court, merely stepped down the Hearing of Motion Ex-parte filed by the Appellants opting instead to hear the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction which the Court Fixed for hearing on Thursday 25th May, 2023, while at the same time directing Parties to maintain the Status Quo.
For the avoidance of doubt, Hon. Yakubu Sanda remains the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly having on 4th May, 2023, immediately after the High Court Judgment of 3rd May, 2023, filed a Notice of Appeal and a Motion for stay of Execution and Injunction to restrain the Judgment Creditors from enforcing the Judgment.
Hon. Abok Nuhu, the former Speaker and now a non-Member and pretended “Speaker of the House” of Assembly can never again be Speaker of the House he has ceased to be a Member of, until (perhaps in the future) he is re-elected as a Member of the House, because Speakership is predicated on Membership!
It would be recalled that Hon. Abok Nuhu, upon decamping to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ceased to be a Member of the Plateau State House of Assembly when, upon his Letter of resignation being read on the Floor of the House, by the Votes and Proceedings No. 46 of 22nd March 2022, his Seat was declared Vacant by the House in compliance with the provisions of Section 109(1)g and (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Furthermore, it is false to assert, as the PDP has been busy doing, that the Judgment of the High Court in the Case on Appeal, is a Declaratory and not an Executory Judgment. How can a Judgment that granted amongst others, Exemplary Damages against the Defendants in the sum of N20 Million; a Mandatory Injunction against the Clerk and the Plateau State Government to recognize Abok as Speaker and restore to him the privileges of his Office and an Order of Perpetual Injunction against the Defendants / Judgment Debtors be said to be Executory?
No one should be deceived, the status quo which the Court of Appeal ordered to be maintained is that Hon. Yakubu Sanda, remains the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly because he has duly Appealed the judgment and filed a Motion for stay and Injunction against Abok and his co-travellers seeking to restrain them from enforcing the Judgment.
Finally, from the Semi-literate letters and tone of the Fake News Story in circulation, it will surprise no one that the desperate Abok Nuhu himself personally wrote and planted the Story. It should interest the People of Plateau State to know that Abok Nuhu has been, using the record of their past shady financial dealings to blackmail the Clerk of the House who is the Signatory to the House of Assembly Accounts, and has succeeded in having Hundreds of Millions of Naira paid to him (Abok Nuhu) in purported satisfaction of the controversial Judgment Debt, notwithstanding the fact that the Judgment cannot, for now, be enforced through the Courts due to the pendency of the Appeal and Motion for stay and Injunction!
We advise Abok, the non-Member but pretended “Speaker of the House”, not to be in a hurry to spend the money (proceeds of blackmail) so far paid to him by the Clerk of the House, but to warehouse the funds illegally taken from the House Accounts as the day of reckoning is coming! It is in Abok’s own interest to await the decision of the Court of Appeal on 25th May, 2023 when the Motion for Interlocutory Injunction is slated to be heard.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed!
Ambassador Haggai Choji Usseni
APC VANGUARD FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE.
