By thePlenary

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Plateau State, have alleged that the nine members of the State House of Assembly, sworn in last week by the Speaker of the House, were made to sign an undertaking before they were sworn in.
It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had sacked 16 duly elected Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and had given victory to 16 APC members who lost at the 2023 State Assembly elections.
The Speaker of the House, Hon. Gabriel Dewan had refused to swear in the APC members for upwards of four months, but in a twist of events, opted to swear in only nine of the 16 members, Friday, last week.
The APC in the state however reacted swiftly, same day, alleging that the nine members were only sworn in because they signed an undertaking not to attempt any impeachment on the Speaker or the State governor.
“Having signed the undertaking, they were sworn-in. But the seven members you see here today refused to sign the undertaking and that was why they were not sworn-in” Rufus Bature, the State APC chairman said at a press conference in Jos, Friday.
“All this time we made entreaties to the Speaker to swear our 16 members in, but all our appeals went to no avail; he never attended our appeals, and we knew he was getting his instructions from somewhere, and we believe it was the governor who gave him those instructions not to swear in the 16 members because of the fear of unknown.
“We are aware that the 16 PDP members went for the review of their case in the Appeal Court but it was turned down, and the Speaker has no other option than to swear in these 16 APC members. But he still defiantly refused to swear in the 16 members.
“We have tried all we could to appeal to the Governor, and I am sure that in the last week, from very high quarters, he was directed to instruct the Speaker to swear in the 16 members, but this morning we woke up with the bizarre news that the Speaker called for a meeting at 7:am and swore in nine of the 16 members.
“We were informed that, as a prerequisite for their swearing-in, forms were given to them to sign. The nine that were sworn-in, were those who cooperated, while those who refused were left out of the swearing-in.
“The nine who were inaugurated today did not consult the party and their respective constituencies; they were on their own. The prerequisite for being sworn-in was that they sign the forms to show their allegiance.
“When we made an inquiry about the form they signed, it was discovered that in the case of any breach of the constitution by the governor, they would not impeach him. Also, they must agree to the extension of the tenure of the local government transition committee chairmen as directed by the governor” Bature said.
The governor or the Speaker is yet to react to these allegations.