The Benue House of Assembly, presided over by its Speaker, Hyacinth Dajo, ordered the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr Grace Adagba, to step aside from her official duties forthwith.
The lawmakers took the decision during Thursday’s plenary to allow the house to investigate the recruitment exercise embarked upon by the board.
The resolution followed a motion moved by the Chief Whip, Mr Peter Ipusu (APC/Katsina-Ala West).
Ipusu said that the house had earlier adopted the resolution directing the chairman of the board to suspend the ongoing recruitment of primary school teachers to allow for investigation into controversies surrounding the exercise, but the directive was ignored.
The chief whip stressed that a day after the resolution was duly conveyed, the chairman released a statement indicating that new cut-off marks had been allocated to the various local governments based on their performance in the Computer-Based Test (CBT).
He stated that the board subsequently shortlisted additional names for physical screening.
Ipusu said that he was worried that the statement released by SUBEB was not only reactionary but also disparaging of the honour of the assembly and its resolutions.
Mr Alfred Berger (APC/Makurdi North), who seconded the motion, stated that the chairman lacked the integrity to continue to pilot the affairs of the board.
Berger added that the law establishing the board gave powers to the Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) to recruit teachers, emphasising that the process was decentralised and the department of quality assurance of the board only supervised it.
Meanwhile, Majority Leader Mr Saater Tiseer pleaded with his colleagues to give the chairman a fair hearing on the matter.
Tiseer added that the day she was to appear before the house, she was at the assembly by 10 am as requested.
He advised his colleagues not to make decisions based on prejudice, adding that they should take actions in line with the constitution.
The counter motion was seconded by Anthony Agom (PDP/Okpokwu), stating that the chairman should be allowed to explain herself.
The Speaker, Hyacinth Dajo, subsequently asked the Clerk, Mr John Hwande, to divide the house, and the members who voted in favour of the initial motion were 21, while five voted for the counter motion.
Dajo stated that the chairman should step aside and hand over to the board’s permanent member 1 to allow the house to carry out its investigation.
The speaker further constituted a seven-man committee to investigate the exercise and report to the house within seven days.
