The
Nigeria Police has finally sealed off the crisis ridden Kogi State House of Assembly.
This
followed the failure of the lawmakers to resolve the leadership crisis that has
bedeviled the assembly in the last three months.
It
was observed on Wednesday that the main entrance to the building was blocked by
armed policemen who prevented the lawmakers from accessing the building.
The
lawmakers were to conduct budget defence on Wednesday.
The
road leading to the complex was also barricaded by policemen who subjected
workers of the assembly to scrutiny before allowing them in.
The
security operatives claimed they were acting on instructions from the
commissioner of police in the state and the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
Mr.
Aliyu Akuh, deputy to the embattled Speaker, Momoh-Jimoh Lawal, said the crisis
remained unresolved as an earlier directive to return to status quo ante by the
House of Representatives was ignored by five members.
He
said it was an aberration for five out of 20 members of the assembly to impeach
the Speaker.
Akuh,
who said the 15 remaining lawmakers considered the action of the minority as an
infringement on the constitution, added that in a good democratic setting, such
infringements could be challenged.
He
said, “What happened with five members seeking to impeach a Speaker in an
assembly of 20 members is an aberration and unheard of, and more so, that some
members’ names and signatures were forged and included as being part of the
plot.
“We
had to go to the higher authority, which is the National Assembly, vested with
the constitutional powers to intervene in such a situation. The House of
Representatives ordered the seal off and it was concurred by the Senate.”
On
the suit 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
order restraining the federal lawmakers from taking the decision.
The
factional Speaker, Alhaji Umar Imam, described the seal off as illegal.
According
to him, for the National Assembly to have gone ahead to close the assembly in
spite of the fact that the matter is pending in court, smacked of illegality.
Imam,
who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Umar Ali, said the action of the
National Assembly was to frustrate legislative business in the state,
especially the passage of the 2016 Appropriation Bill.
Efforts
to get the response of the police failed as the command’s Public Relations
Officer, Williams Aya, in a text message, said he was in a meeting.
The
House of Representatives had on March 9 took over the functions of the assembly
due to the crisis that engulfed it.
In
taking the decision at a plenary, the House said its action was in line with
the provision of section 11 (4) of the 1999 Constitution, which allows it
to take over the functions of any state assembly that is enmeshed in crisis.
In
taking over the assembly’s functions, the House also urged the
Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to immediately seal off the
assembly.
But
Arase was quoted as saying that he was waiting for the advice of the
Attorney-General of the Federation .
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