NASS vs Kogi lawmakers: Who blinks first?

The last is yet to be heard of the raging controversy in the Kogi State House of Assembly. Some lawmakers there seem battle ready for any ‘legislative rascality’ from any quarters, while they look set to confront any retribution from within.

The crisis which erupted when five of the 20 lawmakers of the House purportedly impeached Momoh Jimoh-Lawal as Speaker, probably reached its zenith with the intervention of the House of Representatives on Wednesday.  Jimoh-Lawal’s ‘sin’ was that ‘he managed the affairs of the legislature like his personal estate’.

As a big brother, the House Representatives felt the anomaly should not be allowed to stay and so constituted a fact-finding committee to investigate the matter. The panel later recommended the takeover of the Assembly, as the constitution so empowered them.

So, on Wednesday, the House of Representatives announced immediate takeover of the Kogi Assembly and directed the IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase, to seal off the Assembly complex. Section 11(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) supports the Reps’ position.

Following day, just before the IGP could comply with the House’s directive, 10 members of the Kogi Assembly convened sitting of the House, in total defiance of the Lower Chamber of the National Assembly’s order.

This goes to show that the Kogi lawmakers are poised for a fight, which in law, they have lost ab initio.

Of course, the absurdity of February 16 in Lokoja was not the first time since Nigeria returned to civil rule. Same malady had occurred in a couple of Assemblies since 1999, after all, we were all witnesses to the case of 16 greater than 19 of the then Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

What remains unclear is the audacity of the disgruntled Kogi lawmakers to challenge the House of Representatives’ decision on the matter. Some big names are already being mentioned as backers of the ‘stubborn’ lawmakers. Whoever their backers are, they had better be told that their attempt to challenge the authority of the NASS will not be condoned by any chance.

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