SIPITANG lawmaker Yamani Hafez Musa took his oath as MP at a special chambers in Parliament at 10am today.

The swearing-in ceremony in front of Dewan Speaker Mohd Ariff Md Yusof took less than 10 minutes and was witnessed by family members.

Yamani’s father, former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman, was not present.

Yamani, 39, is the last MP to be sworn in after being issued with a warning for being absent since after the May 9 general election last year.

Ariff congratulated briefly Yamani after the swearing-in.

“Although Yang Berhormat has just sworn-in, I am confident that Yang Berhormat would carry out his duties as an elected representative with honour, as required by this institution.”

The deadline for Yamani to take his oath was January 16 or nine days from today.

Yamani was escorted by a bodyguard into the chambers, while half a dozen police officers stood guard outside. 

Reporters were asked to leave the premises after the swearing-in ceremony. 

Yamani dropped from public view after the May 9 elections after reportedly accompanying Musa to London for medical treatment on May 17.

He is currently without a party as he was one of four MPs and nine assemblymen who left Sabah Umno en masse on December 12, led by then Sabah Umno liaison chief Hajiji Mohd Noor.

Yamani was last spotted in May at an unknown medical facility in London with Musa in photographs that made the rounds on social media showing the latter on a sick bed.

He was not with Musa when the latter returned to Sabah and sworn in as Sibuga assemblyman on September 5.

Nor was he seen when Musa returned to Sabah from Kuala Lumpur for a court ruling on the originating summons to the chief minister’s post on November 7.

Speculation has been rife in Sabah political circles that Yamani is being sought by the authorities.

Yamani had been implicated in the destruction of a forest reserve in Tawau, involving the Tawau Green Energy Geothermal Power Plant.

Large tracts of jungle in Tawau were cleared in 2013 for the country’s first geothermal plant. Yamani is a majority shareholder in Tawau Green Energy Geothermal Power Plant. – January 7, 2019.