Police seal-off Kogi House of Assembly

… ‘No problem in my Assembly’ Gov Bello tells Abuja reporters

Heavily armed security operatives, on Wednesday, stormed the Kogi State House of Assembly complex and finally sealed it off. The development, which took the workers of the Assembly by surprise, apparently because of initial inaction of the police to effect the Senate order for the Inspector General of Police to shut the complex over the lingering crisis that has grounded legislative work in the state.

When the Daily Times visited the Assembly complex, on Wednesday morning, it was observed that the main entrance to the Assembly complex was blocked by the security operatives and prevented members who were billed to conduct budget defence from accessing the complex. Meanwhile, apparently unaware of the development in Lokoja, the state governor, Yahaya Bello, after a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, told State House correspondents that there was no problem in Kogi State Assembly. Governor Bello had exuded confidence, saying that the Kogi Assembly was sitting and all legislative works are ongoing.

Ruling out crisis in the state, he said: “My house is sitting and we have absolute peace in Kogi state, I am not aware of that. The National Assembly was supposed to have taken over, the state is absolutely in peace and the legislative activities are ongoing.” The road leading to the Assembly complex was also barricaded by armed policemen who subjected staff of the assembly to scrutiny and only allowed them in upon confirmation of their employment status through their Identity Cards. The security agent claimed to be acting based on instructions from the commissioner of police following a directive from the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking on the seal-off, Mr Aliyu Akuh, deputy to the embattled Speaker Momoh-Jimoh Lawal said the crisis remained unresolved as earlier directive to return to status quo ante by the House of Representatives was ignored by the five members. He said it was an aberration for five out of the then 20 members of the assembly to impeach the speaker on whom the remaining 15 members had passed a vote of confidence in his leadership. Akuh said that the 15 members considered the action of the minority five members as an infringement on the constitution of the country adding that in a good democratic setting such infringements must be challenged.

Said he, “What happened with five members seeking to impeach a speaker in a house of 20 members is an aberration, unheard of and more so that some members’ names and signatures were forged and included as being part of them. “We had to go to the higher authority which is the National Assembly vested with the constitutional powers to intervene in such situations. The House of Representatives ordered the seal-off and it was concurred by the Senate,” he said. On the position of the law with the suit filed by the five members at the Federal High Court, Lokoja challenging the intervention of the National Assembly on the impasse, Akuh said there was no injunction or court order restraining the National Assembly.

The factional speaker, Alhaji Umar Imam described the seal-off as illegal saying that for the National Assembly to have gone ahead to seal-off the assembly in spite of the fact that the matter was pending in court smacked of illegality. Imam who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Umar Ali said the action of the National Assembly was aimed at stunting the growth of the state as all legislative businesses especially the passage of the 2016 Appropriation Bill would be affected. Efforts to get the state command of the Nigeria Police to confirm failed as the Public Relations Officer, Williams Aya in a text message said he was in a meeting.