Constituency Threaten Plateau Deputy Speaker with Recall

By Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

Members of state constituency of Kanam in Plateau state have threatened to recall their representative in the state House of Assembly and Deputy Speaker of the House, Honourable Yusuf Gagdi over claims of insecurity and Boko Haram in Kanam local government area of the state.

Gagdi incurred the wrath of his constituents when he allegedly moved a motion of public importance seeking to declare Garga district of his constituency, which shares border with Yankari Game Reserve, “a place of abode for Boko Haram”, claiming that Boko Haram insurgents were sighted there and for the close links between the Game Reserve and Sambisa forest.

Although the deputy Speaker had denied any wrong doing, members of his constituency who described the lawmaker’s motion as ‘unguarded’ are now calling for his head. In a statement in Jos yesterday, a group under the aegis of Concerned Garga Citizens (CGC) noted that since the Deputy Speaker’s motion became public knowledge, people had been avoiding the community especially visitors due to fear of Boko Haram, a development the group said had affected economic actıvities in the area.

The statement sıgned by Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu Bawa, the group expressed surprise that instead of the lawmaker to show remorse for the embarrassment caused by his “infamous motion”, he had gone ahead to whip up more sentiments ostensibly to divert attention   from the obvious security threat his motion represented.

The statement reads in part: “since the motion on insecurity in Garga District as moved by Deputy Speaker, Hon Yusuf Gagdi, became public knowledge, there have been a lot of confusıon and apprehension in the area with regards to his bogus claims. Indeed, we are worried about the fears which his motion has created in the minds of the people.

“This has affected not only the economic actıvities but the influx of the people especially visitors to the community. We are surprised that ınstead of him to show remorse for the embarrassment caused by his unguarded utterances against hıs people, he had gone ahead to allege that we did not vote for him which is not true.”

While calling on the security agents to hold the lawmaker responsible in the event of any breach of the peace in the area arısing from his motıon, the group called on the Deputy Speaker to withdraw the motion. “We also call on him to tender an unreserved apology to the people of Garga for his act of misrepresentation or we will be left with no option than to initiate a further action on the matter in the interest of our people”, the group threatened.