Suspended ex-Benue Speaker drags Assembly to court

…demands reinstatement, N2bn damages

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The immediate past Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Hyacinth Dajoh, has filed a suit before the National Industrial Court in Abuja, challenging his suspension and demanding reinstatement, payment of withheld allowances, and damages amounting to N2billion.

In the originating summons marked NICN/ABJ/368/2025, Dajoh is asking the court to declare his six months suspension “unlawful, unconstitutional and null and void.”

Joined in her suit as defendants were the Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, the Benue State House of Assembly, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Department of State Services (DSS).

Dajoh argued that the suspension, which began in November 2025, breached his constitutional rights.

“My suspension was carried out in blatant violation of Sections 36(1) and 101 of the 1999 Constitution. The Assembly ignored its own Standing Orders, particularly Order X Rules 72(11) and (12), adopted in May 2023. There was no fair hearing, no due process, and no lawful justification,” he stated in the court documents.

The former Speaker also faults the Assembly’s refusal to pay his statutory overheads and emoluments amounting to N8million monthly, insisting that the decision was unconstitutional.

“Since November 2025, all my allowances and entitlements have been withheld without any legal basis. This is punitive, vindictive, and contrary to the Constitution.”

Dajoh is seeking an order of the court directing his immediate reinstatement as the member representing Gboko West State Constituency, with full rights and privileges restored. He also wants the court to compel the defendants to pay all outstanding allowances and bonuses from the date of his suspension until full compliance.

The former Speaker further prays for a perpetual injunction restraining the current Speaker, the Assembly, and all security agencies from taking any action that could bar him from accessing or participating in plenary or administrative activities of the House.

He is additionally demanding N1billion in general damages for alleged mental and psychological torture arising from what he described as an illegal suspension, and another N1billion in aggravated damages for what he terms the Assembly’s “unconscionable conduct.”

“Suspending me for six months immediately after an earlier three-month suspension is a clear act of persecution,” he asserted in the suit.

The court is expected to assign the matter for hearing once the mandatory appearance period lapses for all defendants.

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