Similarly, the Majority leader of the House, Samuel Marcus was removed and replaced with Terminal Gayle while Said Mohammed was elected as new Deputy Chief Whip to replace the former Chief Whip, Yahaya Kaka.

The Chief Whip of the House, Hon. Musa Buba who briefed the press on behalf of the House said the removal of the former Speaker was in the exercise of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

According to him, 16 members of the House out of the 24 passed a vote of no confidence against the former Speaker.

He dismissed the insinuations that they were being sponsored saying the decision of the House is in the common interest of the state.

But the new Speaker, Abubakar Mohammed who refused to make comment on what led to the removal of his predecessor said the change in leadership of the House is to ensure that the of the state get what they deserve in terms of legislation.

“I want everyone to know that what happened today is in the best interest of our constituents and the entire people of Gombe state. We took this action in order to ensure that our people got what they deserve in terms of legislation,” he said.

Earlier, the Chief Whip who spoke on behalf of the House denied the insinuations that they were being sponsored by an external force to remove the former Speaker.

“I can tell you that it is not true. We simply exercise one of our numerous constitutional responsibilities under section 92 subsection 2c. We just impeached the Speaker by passing a vote of no confidence on him. You know we are under oath; there is a breach of laws by the former Speaker which we cannot disclose here so we removed him. No, we are not being sponsored by anybody. We are responsible people elected by our people,” he said.

Efforts to get the former Speaker’s reaction on the incident proved abortive as he refused to pick calls placed to him and reply to a short message and WhatsApp message to him.

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The identities of the other lawmakers are not yet known.

The cases were confirmed on Monday when results of the samples sent to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) laboratory were released.

TheCable understands that the speaker and the lawmakers have since been admitted at treatment centres in the state.

All the people who have had contact with the lawmakers are being identified and traced, a source said.

The development comes one week after Muhammad Yahaya, the governor, ordered the closure of the secretary to the state government (SSG) office and the government house clinic following the death of a director in the office of the SSG.

Shuaibu Danlamia, the deceased, tested positive for COVID-19 before his death.

After his demise, Yahaya directed all government appointees in the state to undergo COVID-19 tests.

So far, Gombe has recorded 217 cases of the disease.

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Earlier, Chris Owobu, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, who is the 24th prosecution witness, narrated how the Commission’s investigation revealed that a N5bn loan facility taken by the Gombe state government under Goje was facilitated through a forged resolution of the State House of Assembly.

Goje is facing trial alongside Aliyu El_Nafaty, S. M. Dokoro and Sabo Muhammad Tumu on conspiracy, embezzlement of funds belong to Gombe State Government as well as taken loan facilities without following due process.

On 7th February, 2018 the case was adjourned to today for continuation of cross examination of PW24 by the defence counsel, Chrsi Uche, SAN.

Owobu stated that, the EFCC wrote a letter of investigation activities to Access Bank where the facility in question was collected, requesting the statement of account, mandate card and all account opening documents of the Gombe State Government account. He stated that when Access Bank responded to EFCC’s request, a copy of Gombe State House of Assembly resolution approving the facility and siģned by one Shehu Muhammed Atiku, the Clerk of the Assembly was among the documents provided by the bank.

In order to verify the authenticity of the said resolution, the witness said the Clerk was invited and he volunteered statement to EFCC wherein he stated that the purported resolution sent to Access Bank and on which basis the loan was granted to Gombe State Government, did not emanate from the Assembly, and that his signature was forged.

The witness further informed the court that, on the date that the resolution was purportedly made, there was no any proceeding in the House.

Re-examining the witness, prosecution counsel, Wahab Shittu, asked whether the facility in question was mentioned in Gombe State Appropriation Act or Supplementary Act as domestic loan within the period under review, to which he answered in negative.

The case was adjourned to 3 October, 2018.

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Goje is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in relation to alleged financial impropriety, including the contract on food supply to the state government house during his tenure as well as loan facilities taken from Access and Union Banks.

He is standing trial alongside Aliyu El-Nafaty, S. M. Dokoro and Sabo Muhammad

At the sitting, counsel to the EFCC, Wahab Shittu, filed an amended 21-count charge against the defendants and they were all served, though yet to take their pleas.

Meanwhile, Chris Owobu, an operative of the EFCC and a member of the team that investigated the alleged offence gave a blow-by-blow account of how the resolution purported to have been passed by the Gombe State House of Assembly to authorise the approval of the N5billion facility from Access Bank was forged.

The PW24 stated that when Danjuma Goje was governor, he got a N5billion facility from Access Bank without the approval of the Gombe State House of Assembly.

He added that Goje under investigation claimed that he got approval from Gombe State House of Assembly via a resolution passed by the House, but investigation revealed that on said day, the House did not sit nor pass any resolution regarding any loan as claimed by the former governor.

Owobu further told the court that it was the House that informed EFCC that the purported resolution was not from them.

He said that the resolution, which has the name of the Clerk of the Gombe State House of Assembly, was later discovered to be forged.

“In the course of investigation, we invited the Clerk to confirm whether he was the one who signed the resolution. His response was that there was no record of the House which had such resolution mandating the governor to access any loan from Access Bank.

“The clerk further told the investigators that the signature on the resolution was not his own, that it was forged.

“We went further to collect specimen signature from the Clerk and send same with the one on the resolution to forensic expert for analysis. The report from the forensic expert revealed that the signature on the resolution is different from the specimen collected, thereby justifying the claim by the Clerk that his signature on the purported resolution was forged”, Owobu stated.

Thereafter, the judge, adjourned to April 10 – 11, 2018 for continuation of trial.

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“My Lord, the said resolution did not emanate from the Gombe State House of Assembly and I was not a signatory to it”, said Atiku, a former Clerk of the Gombe State House of Assembly and one of the three witnesses called by prosecuting counsel, Wahab Shitu.

Atiku, while testifying told the court that, “as the Admin Officer of the House, I chair management committee of the House, keep the record of House proceedings and maintain its records”.

However, the court had to cut short the proceeding and adjourn for further hearing owing to the fracas that ensued as suspected political thugs invaded the court premises and disrupted the proceedings.

The thugs also launched attack on the accused persons and others outside the court premises during which the second accused person, Aliyu El-Nafarty and one other person were seriously wounded.

In the melee, vehicles were vandalized including that of the defence counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN.

The attack forced the presiding judge, Justice B. O. Quadri to adjourn to November 25, 2015.

Justice Quadir condemned the attack and directed both counsel to do a report on what happened which he promised to forward to the Chief Judge, Federal High Court for necessary action

Goje, alongside four other accused persons are being prosecuted by the EFCC on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and embezzlement of funds belonging to the state government.

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The insurgents who attacked Dukku and Nafada local government areas of the state were said to have killed the lawmaker, a member of the All Progressives Congress representing Dukku South Constituency in the parliament.

A source told the News Agency of Nigeria that the insurgents, who came from Yobe, initially attacked Shole, Birin Bolewa and Birin Fulani towns of Nafada and later attacked Dukku.

There was confusion in the areas as some voters left the polling units but others later returned to be accredited, the source said.

According to the source, the insurgents killed three persons in Nafada Local Government Area, including a policeman and killed six persons in Dukku Local Government Area, including the legislator.

The source further said the insurgents left on the Dukku-Darazo road after the attack.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Gombe State, Fwaje Atajiri confirmed the report, adding that details of the incident would be given after investigations were completed.

“There was an attack on the outskirts of Nafada in attempt to disrupt the elections,” Me. Atajiri, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said. “A joint team of military and police officer promptly moved to Dukku and pushed the insurgents to the bush.”

Atajiri said elections were going on in the area and other areas of the state as the Special Forces were in control of the situation.

Reacting to the death of his colleague, member representing Akko North Constituency at the State House of Assembly, Gidado Lawanti, described his death as unfortunate.
He described the deceased legislator as a friendly and nice person who went along with everybody.

Lawanti prayed for the repose of the soul of the deceased.

The deceased APC lawmaker was scheduled to seek re-election for his assembly seat on April 11.

Gombe has witnessed several Boko Haram attacks recently although it was never placed under a state of emergency like neighbouring Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe.

The insurgents, who had threatened to attack during the elections, have recently suffered heavy losses as the Nigerian military reclaimed several territory from them in the affected states.

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Briefing newsmen on the development in Gombe on Thursday, member representing Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye Federal Constituency, Khamisu Mailantarki, said the party had been hijacked by defectors from the PDP.

The lawmaker said the APC guidelines stated that each of the merging party must be considered in the constitution of leadership at the state and local levels, which he said had not been done.

He said a complaint had been sent to the party’s national secretariat on the development but that nothing was being done about it.

Mailantarki appealed to the national leaders of the party to intervene and make the party in the state to abide by the guidelines and include everybody in the scheme of things.

“We want total involvement, especially the consideration of the three merging parties,’’ Mailantarki said.

He said that he was not being  sponsored by another party to destabilise the APC in the state.

Reacting, the Interim Chairman of APC in the state, Magaji Doho, told newsmen that members of the dissident group were sponsored by another party to cause confusion in the new party.

Doho, however, said efforts were being made to reconcile issues with the aggrieved members of the party.

Two members of the Gombe State House of Assembly, former Chairmen of the defunct parties in the state- CPC, ACN and ANPP, which merged to be APC, were also in attendance.

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