Unlawful Suspension: Benue, Zamfara Governors Shun Reps Committee Summons

The governors of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, and Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, disregarded the summons issued by the House of Representatives Public Petitions Committee on Thursday, May 8.

Naijaonpoint understands that the committee summoned both governors and their respective state assembly leadership following a petition submitted to the House on March 27, 2025, by the legal representative of the civil society organisation Guardians of Rule of Law and Democracy, Enhenseken Samoe.

This petition alleged the unlawful suspension of lawmakers in both states.

The organisation is calling on the National Assembly to exercise its constitutional authority to assume control over the legislative duties of the affected state assemblies as outlined in Section 11 of the 1999 Constitution.

Central to the complaint is the assertion that the governors of Benue and Zamfara have allegedly facilitated the suspension of lawmakers in their state assemblies, thereby preventing both chambers from achieving a quorum and, consequently, from executing their legislative responsibilities.

In Zamfara, the Assembly suspended four members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and six from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in February 2024 for purportedly conducting an illegal plenary session.

Presently, two lawmakers, Bilyaminu Moriki and Bashar Gummi (representing Gummi I Constituency), are each claiming the position of Speaker.

The faction led by Gummi convened a parallel session and allegedly impeached Moriki. In response, the Moriki-led Assembly suspended ten members associated with Gummi, accusing them of holding an illegal session and declaring the impeachment attempt null and void.

In Benue, the House of Assembly suspended thirteen lawmakers for three months for allegedly opposing the removal of Maurice Ikpambese, the state’s chief judge, whom they accused of serious misconduct and corruption.

At the committee’s hearing, the petitioner’s representative said, “Our petition is founded on established precedents,” said Samoe, citing rulings by the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court.

“No House of Assembly has the jurisdiction to suspend a sitting member for more than 14 days — anything beyond that is unconstitutional.”

Petitioners, through their legal representative, Samoe, noted with concern that the state governments had outrightly rejected the National Assembly’s authority to summon them, insisting such invitations lack constitutional backing.

One of the suspended Zamfara State House of Assembly members, expressing frustration at the meetin,g decried the governors’ stance, “Before we came here, we were informed that neither the governors nor the assemblies would appear. One of them even boasted in writing that nothing would come of this process.”

However, the committee’s work hit an early procedural snag. Deputy Chairman of the Public Petitions Committee, Matthew Nwogu, who was presiding due to a change in leadership just the day before, raised concerns that the petition might not have been properly laid before the House plenary — a required step before the committee can assume jurisdiction.

“I have the paper here,” Vanguard quoted Nwogu saying.

“But there is no House stamp on it. Until we confirm the petition was duly laid before the House and referred to this committee, we cannot proceed legitimately.”

While Samoe maintained the petition was submitted and referred through proper channels, the committee resolved to investigate its procedural standing before making further progress.

“The former chairman of the committee will have to sit with the new chairman and brief us on what he knows about this issue; then, after, we will know what next steps to take,” he stressed.

Speaking at the meeting, the new chairman of the committee, Hon. Kwamoti Bitrus Laori, who, however, did not preside over the committee’s meeting, pleaded with all sides to maintain decorum.

“Please, let us follow due process,” he said.

“This matter is emotional, but we cannot let feelings override constitutional procedures.”

The committee reiterated that the absence of summoned individuals would not halt its work but emphasised that due process must be followed, especially if the House intends to invoke Section 11 to take over state legislative duties.

The committee gave another date, the 14th of May 2025, for all parties to appear again.