....PASAN condemns the use of contract staff for the Monday Plenary as the strike is ongoing


It was a rowdy session in today's plenary in the Adamawa State House of Assembly plenary by lawmakers over the one hundred billion bonds the State Government under the leadership of Rt Hon Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri wants to acquire.


The Member representing Vere Constituency under the umbrella of All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Abdullahi Yapak lamented that the Deputy Speaker who was the acting speaker and presided over the House,Pwamakeno Mackendo has unfairly overruled him despite the constitutional matters he raised on the said issue.

According to him the voice vote put across members to answer yeah or nay to have a distinction to the views of those in support of the motion or not was notclear.

He said raising order seventy (70) of the House outstanding rule is the only thing that can divide the house into two on a head count of member in support or not in support for a decision of that magnitude be taken in the interest of Adamawa State.

Abdullahi Lamented that speaker Aminu has further overruled him despite the Constitutional matters he has also raised not to go ahead to approve the loan.

"The Speaker has overruled me unfairly and against the interest of Adamawa people. Despite our house standing rules I raised, he violated the constitutional provisions, and in the house plenary, once someone raises a constitutional issue it must be thoroughly exhausted before a decision can be taken or any other matter be deliberated.

" Besides the bond of one hundreds billion naira to be incurred on behalf of Adamawa people is not palatable, the reasons are not convincing at all for that bond to pass through a process of approval.

"Can you imagine the reasons being that the state government wants to get the bond to pay previous debts and work. It has never been done elsewhere a loan will be acquired to pay past loans. It's against the financial principles.

" I think the people want to exactly know which past debt is he talking about and the exact work is trying to do in the state for the bond to be approved. These are issues that are so germane in the interest of everyone in the state.


Yapak who is the chairman house committee on inter-parliamentary, labor, and employment said he has to walk out of the plenary when the acting speaker and deputy speaker, Mackendo who superintended the session, insisted that the wrong thing must be done.

He further revealed that:

" I received a text message yesterday that we should convene at the assembly complex without actually knowing what is going to transpire.

" When we came in, the deputy speaker who led the plenary in acting capacity brought three letters and I rejected all the three letters. But what baffles me much is the N100bn loan which the governor is seeking.

" I objected to that because there are procedures, there are financial regulations which we have to abide by.

" There is a provision in 2021 budget, a column for domestic borrowing and in that column, we approve only N20bn. Because of that I staunchly stood my ground that we should not approve a loan above N20bn.

"What took place in the house today was wrong because the poor man in the village will not understand what we are doing here.

" So I advise that they should split it to N25bn this year, next year, and the remaining two years, they still objected.

" I still called the attention of the plenary to the budget provision but they still turned me down. I also asked the plenary to respect the house standing orders so that we can split into two according to those in support or against the loan and I was overruled. Since there is nothing more I could do I have to walk out of the house," he said.

In a related development, the parliamentarian Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) has issued a statement stating their position on the Monday sitting of the Adamawa honorable lawmakers.

Their statement which read in parts and signed by their Chairman, comrade Bashir Elwan stated that:

"While we are in nationwide industrial strike action, it has come to our knowledge that there was a sitting in the chamber of the Assembly Complex on Monday, 10th - May 2021 at 10:00 am.

"Unfortunately, I was not in town. But I informed exco members to mobilize and take charge. Sadly, the House sat.

"PASAN is also aware, that our members did not participate in conducting the sitting of the House. However, the sitting was coordinated and clerked by a management staff with the use of some contract staff of the House. That is a bad precedence to the system, and it will count against the leadership at Speaker's conference.

"The struggle for the financial autonomy is for the independence of the legislative arm of government, and defense of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. While we understood that the welfare of our members is embedded in the autonomy, it's important to note that most of the benefits go to the leadership and management of the House.

"Therefore, I, on behalf of PASAN members, condemn the sitting in strong terms. PASAN is devastated by the action of the management and leadership of the Hon House. We thought that we are on the same page.

"Consequently, we will notify the National Secretariat of PASAN about the unpleasant development.

"In the spirit of comradeship, I'm in full appreciation to all members of PASAN for the solidarity shown during the strike action.

"Finally, I declare that THE STRIKE ACTION CONTINUES until further directives from our National Secretariat are received."