ICYMI: Kano Assembly Speaker removed, replaced by former Speaker

Ted Odogwu, Kano

On resumption from a two-month recess, members of the Kano State House of Assembly on Monday removed the Speaker, Yusuf Ata, and replaced him with Al-hassan Rurun, a former Speaker of the House.

The motion for Ata’s removal was moved on the floor of the House by the lawmaker representing Warawa constituency, Labaran Madari, and was seconded by a lone member of the Peoples Democratic Party in the House, Abdullahi Muhammed.

Ata was removed as Speaker alongside two other principal officers of the House.

The Deputy Speaker was replaced by a former Deputy Speaker, Alhaji Hamisu Chidari; while the Majority Leader, Mohammad Butu, was replaced by Baffa-Babba Dan Agundi.

Alhaji Ayuba Labaran, representing Kabo constituency, emerged as the Majority Whip.

Rerum, who replaced Ata on Monday, had in July 2017, stepped down as the Speaker following allegations of bribery.

The 40-member Assembly resumed on Monday from a two-month recess, during which the legislators hatched the impeachment plot.

On May 15, the House members, numbering 24, signed for the removal of the former Speaker, but the state governor’s prompt intervention shielded him from the lawmakers’ hammer.

Reacting, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje described the change at the House as “an issue of internal democracy.”

“I did not hear the exchange of blows. The change was a smooth change in line with the principles of internal democracy,” the governor said.

Ganduje said this on Monday when the new Speaker, Rurum, led the new Assembly leadership to the Government House.

Ganduje, who said he had no prior knowledge of the change in the House, urged those who lost their positions to support the new leadership and work together for the peace, progress and development of the state.

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