The allegedly impeached Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Abok Ayuba, has described his purported resignation from office as laughable, FAKE news, a forged document and part of the grand design to deceive members of the public with the view to garner sympathy by those that orchestrated the crisis in the house.
He pointedly declared that Plateau people have a lot of confidence in him as Speaker and would therefore not sell their birthright for anything.
Hon. Ayuba was allegedly impeached by eight lawmakers in the 24-member Assembly being led by Yakubu Sanda, who is claiming to be the new speaker of the Assembly without the support of the majority members.
The Hon. Sanda-led group, allegedly being accorded recognition and protection by Governor Simon Lalong, had on Thursday claimed that Hon. Ayuba had formally resigned from office as Speaker.
Sanda, who brandished a purported letter of resignation by Ayuba, said that with the resignation, there is no longer leadership crisis thus, should be recognised as the authentic Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
The purported resignation letter as tendered by the Sanda before the few lawmakers loyal to him went viral on social media.
According to Sanda; “With Abok’s resignation, the leadership crisis rocking the State Assembly over who should be recognised as the authentic Speaker has been put to rest.
However, a glimpse of the purported resignation letter dated November 1, 2021, indicated that it was not addressed to anyone in particular.
But in a statement on Friday, Hon Abok Ayuba described the purported resignation letter as forged, fake news and deliberate propaganda to win the sympathy of the people.
Ayuba in the statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Bulus Atang said if such a letter of resignation truly emanated from him, he would not in any way be seen continuously contesting the illegality going on at the Plateau Assembly.
He further said; “Their ambition has blinded their consciousness and eyes from seeing the reality. Are they now saying they impeached me or that I resigned? Resign from what? These are questions begging for answers; impeachment or resignation?
“They have not been able to plan well to do this mischief. If their schemers were smart enough, they would have planned better for them, and not to make them look quite disgraceful, shameful, and confused in the whole prank and childish display of foolishness.
“The fight on this is the Plateau fight, it is bigger than me and the twelve other lawmakers who are with us. So, we are committed to continuing to stand for justice, equity, and peaceful Plateau, and to victory and stability of democracy.
“I can’t do a letter and put a signature and stamp of ‘received’ again; a letter that was not addressed to anyone in particular.
“One would wonder why, if they had the letter as of 1st November 2021, why are they bringing it out on 18th November 2021? They would have been happy to produce it as early as possible.
“The crafter doing this forgery is a distraction plan to win the sympathy of Plateau people,” Auba said.
He therefore urged security agencies to investigate and unmask those behind the purported resignation letter particularly ‘writing and forging of the signature of Right Honourable Abok Ayuba’, with a view to bringing them to book.
