KOTA KINABALU: Warisan will be taking urgent legal steps to compel the Sabah State Assembly Speaker to accept the resignation of Sebatik state assemblyman, Hassan A. Gani Pg Amir and hence vacate the seat.
Party lawyers have documents that clearly indicate Hassan agreed to resign in the event he leaves the party and he also willingly signed a letter of allegiance to Warisan.
In a letter dated 10 September 2020 to his lawyers, Hassan instructed them to date and submit his resignation letter to the Speaker and the Head of State in the event that he, among others, declares himself to be independent before or after being sworn in as an assemblyman.
The lawyers executed the instruction following his announcement to become an independent on 25 February 2021 and Hassan’s letter of resignation dated 26 February 2021 was then submitted to the Speaker, Datuk Kadzim Yahya yesterday.
Warisan had earlier released a video of Hassan declaring his oath to pledge allegiance to the party in the name of God, saying he would remain with the party till the end of the term of the assembly.
In that video recorded last year when he was named the Warisan candidate for Sebatik in the 2020 state elections, he pledged to submit his resignation letter to the Speaker and Head of State should he breach his allegiance to Warisan.
All Warisan candidates made the pledge of loyalty to the party voluntarily with no element of coercion from the party.
Further, it was Hassan’s second opportunity contesting in the state elections under the Warisan ticket having lost to a Barisan Nasional candidate in 2018.
Warisan is saddened by the Speaker’s decision not to accept Hassan’s resignation and therefore will take legal recourse immediately.
