Bauchi leaders protest relocation of council headquarters

THE Sayawa Council of Elders and Traditional Rulers in Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro local councils of Bauchi State have condemned the relocation of Tafawa Balewa Local Council Headquarters to Bununu District and the district head to Zwal Village.
Speaking with journalists, secretary to the council, Bukata Zhadi, described the Governor Isa Yuguda administration as sentimentally religious, full of bias, selfish, malicious and mischievous aimed at extermination and ethnic cleansing of Sayawa people who are predominantly Christians by faith.        
Bukata said what was happening in the House of Assembly was in conformity with the Governor Yuguda’s declaration on “January 28, 2011, when he visited the area (Tafawa Balewa) after the attack by Hausa Fulani on Christians on January 27, 2011. He said he demolished Tafawa Balewa town and made it a grazing ground for the Hausa/Fulani people”.
Similarly, a former member of the House of Assembly representing Lere/Bula, Aminu Tukur, made a statement in the media that the fighting and killing would continue until the Sayawa people say that Tafawa Balewa town does not belong to them.
The secretary of Sayawa Council of Elders spoke in reaction to the decision of the House of Assembly to relocate the local council headquarters in Tafawa Balewa Town to Bununu District on peace ground, but ostensibly on religious ground.
On Wednesday, Speaker of the Assembly, Yahaya Mohammed Miya, made the announcement on the floor of the House during its session following a motion moved by a member representing Ningi Constituency, Abdulmumuni Ningi, and was seconded by 30 members.
The decision of the House was informed by recent bomb attacks allegedly by Hausa-Fulani community in Tafawa Balewa Town that claimed many lives and property beyond human quantification.
The attacks were branded by the state government and the police as armed robbery attacks.
But a member representing Bogoro Constituency, Rifkatu Samson Dannah, said she was surprised at the decision of the House, explaining that the Assembly lacks the constitutional powers to relocate council headquarters.
It was gathered that when Dannah opposed the motion, she was intimidated by the Speaker, who ordered her to withdraw and subsequently apologise. She was also interrogated by the House Committee on Ethics.
The bill on relocation of the council headquarters was said to have been sent to the House by the Executive as a panacea to end the recurrent attacks on residents of Tafawa Balewa but was allegedly done in a way capable of producing negative results.
Dannah appealed to the House to rescind its decision, which she described as undemocratic.

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