Nasarawa Assembly: APC stakeholders insist Ogazi remains Speaker unless court says otherwise
Joel Oladele, Abuja
The crises rocking the Nasarawa State House of Assembly seems unabated as concerned Nasarawa APC Stakeholders have insisted that Daniel Ogah Ogazi remains the authentic Speaker in line with best democratic practices unless otherwise determined by the court.
Recall that Ibrahim Balarabe was recently elected as Speaker by 11 members at one of the state ministries and sworn in by the acting clerk of the Assembly, Ibrahim Musa, to lead the 7th assembly while Ogazi was elected as Speaker by 13 members at the Assembly Complex.
The duo who are from the western zone of the state have since been locked in a battle over who is the real speaker of the house.
The stakeholders in a press statement signed by its spokesperson, Alh. Yusuf Ibrahim, stressed that its position is firm, in the eye of the law and in line with global best democratic practices.
The statement read, “It is no news that the Speaker Daniel Ogah Ogazi led majority of the Assembly, dissatisfied with the brazing disregard to rule of law by the Balarabe group and his continuous impostor as Speaker of the 7th Assembly, has sought the court to stop him from parading self as Speaker, an issue that still awaits court determination.
“As stakeholders who have worked tirelessly for the success of the party at all levels in the past and recent elections and whose position on the Assembly crisis only seek to entrench democracy, question a statement credited to the Publicity Secretary of the Party, Otaru Douglas describing Rt. Hon. Ogah Ogazi, the Speaker of the 7th Assembly, his principal officers and other stakeholders of the party as rebels and unrecognized members of the party.
“The same Otaru who in his opinion, best described the Ogazi led principal officers as rebels and unrecognised members of the APC in the state, is one person who the party considers as worthless and with no electoral value to add to the system, hence his clear exclusion from the recent caucus meeting. There has never been a Caucus Meeting of a party without its Spokesman. The APC has clearly dumped the noise maker who has never won elections in his own polling unit.
“Undoubtedly, Otaru’s public outpour is borne out of his overzealousness and certainly represents his personal opinion. It’s most likely not the position of our party in the state, which has since given way for the law courts to determine the issues, while deploying deplomacy in revolving the warring factions.
“On the few sponsored endorsements in the state by some self-serving persons, it is morally right to say that those who have stood in the way of fairplay, can never stand on the side of justice. The vote of confidence passed by a few self acclaimed Akwanga APC Stakeholders led by Kwanta Yakubu and the unfortunate Assembly Member, Larry Ven-Bawa on Speaker Balarabe, speaks volume of their ignorance of our extant laws.
“Ven-Bawa whose emergence till today is still questionable, can best be described as a product of Illegality in an illegal gathering and an illegal gathering, will yield nothing productive aside a press conference to endorse Illegality by a few decimated APC groups who have lost grassroot support. This was evident in the last General Elections outcome, producing the worst results for APC in Nasarawa State.
“Our position is firm, in the eye of the law and in line with global best democratic practices, Rt. Hon. Daniel Ogah Ogazi remains the authentic speaker of the 7th Assembly, unless otherwise determined by the court,” Ibrahim insisted.
