Members of the Plateau State House of Assembly stayed away from the North-Central zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution.

The PUNCH observed that none of the 24-member Assembly, including the Speaker, Abok Ayuba, was present during the two-day public hearing, which held between Tuesday and Wednesday in Jos.

But one of the lawmakers in Jos on Wednesday said that they decided to boycott the exercise in protest of the alleged refusal of Governor Simon Lalong to grant autonomy to the state legislature.

The lawmaker said, “He has refused to grant us autonomy; instead, the template he wants to use is against the interest of the state House of Assembly because the template allows him to make all manner of deductions before payment is made to us. To us, that is not autonomy.”

Reacting, the state Commissioner for Information, Dan Manjan, said, “The state House of Assembly has an unfettered access to the governor and for anybody to have said that; the person is not being fair to the governor.”