THE SPEAKER, Benue State House of Assembly, Hon. Hyacinth Dajoh, says that the Executive Chairman, State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), Dr Grace Adagba, must be suspended for denigrating the assembly.
Dajoh, in a telephone interview with newsmen on Wednesday in Makurdi, said that the house was resolute in its decision and Adagba must be suspended to call her to order.
According to the speaker, the SUBEB chairman’s negative media campaigns against his person and the entire 10th State Assembly will fail.
He said the suspension of the chairman for at least six months would serve as a deterrent to other appointees who might be contemplating obstruction of the assembly’s constitutional responsibilities.
He said it was on record that Adagba wrote to the assembly through two different standing committees that they lacked powers to carry out oversight functions on the board.
“When the House Committee on Local Governments wrote to her that they want to know the staff strength of the SUBEB and her wage bill, she responded that they do not have oversight function over her.
“We set another committee to verify all the contracts awarded by the administration; here too, she responded in the same manner.
“We have not seen any letter from her requesting 30 days to prepare her documents. I only saw two letters from her that the assembly has no oversight powers over the board,” he said.
Dajoh described as laughable the efforts of the SUBEB chairman to manipulate the media and gain an upper hand to save her job.
The speaker told newsmen that Adagba had been going round telling those who cared to listen and some sections of the media that the assembly wanted to remove her to pave the way for the governor’s impeachment.
“If the assembly wants to remove the governor, why will they go through a mere SUBEB chairman? This is laughable because her actions and utterances show how inexperienced she is in the workings of governance.
“We are insisting that she must be suspended so that other appointees will learn from it. This is the second time we have had issues with her. Is she the only appointee? The members have said they will not entertain any correspondence from the governor until she is suspended.
“For two years, there is nothing the governor sent to us that we rejected. If we respect you and your appointees are disrespecting members of the assembly, we cannot condone it,” Dajoh said. (NAN)
