According to VANGUARD Though, the newly
inaugurated Kogi State 6th House of Assembly has adjourned to August 18th, the
House may not be able to open for legislative business as the war between the
Peoples Democratic Party and The All Progressive Congress, APC legislators
lingers on. The brouhaha which started over the nomination of Speaker and other
principal officers subsequently turned into bickering between the two parties
in the assembly where the PDP has 14 seats to the 11 controlled by the APC. As
it stands, the parties are just using the House as a decoy to fight for
relevance and supremacy. The real essence of the debacle is geared towards the
governorship election scheduled to hold later in the year.
The present war
between the two parties’ legislators started at the inauguration of the 6th
House of Assembly which ended in controversy resulting in a walk-out by the
APC, members. The trouble even flowed outside the chambers as supporters of the
two parties clashed over the development resulting in security operatives using
tear-gas to dispel the supporters. It is feared that the
present situation could re-enact the scenario in the 5th Assembly where the
battle for the impeachment of the former Speaker, Abdullahi Bello caused a lot
of uproar in the State, leading to the closure of the Assembly for more than a
year. Discrepancy
How trouble started
Immediately the
Governor of the State, Capt. Idris Wada concluded the inauguration of the new
members, the member representing Igalamela/Odolu constituency, Friday Sani
(PDP) proposed Momoh Jimoh Lawal as his nominee for the position of Speaker. Sani
asked the clerk, Mr. Simon Momoh to swear Lawal as the speaker as he had
collated signatures of members in his support as speaker. Sani was seconded by
a new-comer, Prince Matthew Kolawole (PDP-Kabba/Bunu) and the clerk called for
voice votes.
However, all efforts
of the member representing Ankpa 1 (APC), Ibrahim Abdumumuni to propose another
nominee was ignored by the clerk of the House which forced all the 11 APC
members- elects to stage a walk-out. The clerk, however, said that the action
was irreversible and went ahead to conduct the rest of the elections.
Other elected
principal officers included: Prince Matthew Kolawole, Majority Leader; Deputy
Majority Leader, Sunday Shigaba (PDP-Bassa); Friday Sani, Chief Whip; Mohammed
Bello (APC-Ajaokuta), Minority Leader. The action led to commotion in and
outside the gallery where angry youths and supporters of both parties resorted
to violence and had to be tear-gassed by the police to restore peace.
Ultimatum
The House which was
only filled with PDP members subsequently adjourned till August 18th. While the
PDP led house thought they had prevailed, the APC was actually planning its own
game plan. They did not accept the outcome lightly. The APC felt that the
executive arm of government was behind the ‘shabby’ election. They thereafter
issued a 24 hour ultimatum to the assembly members to redress the situation.
The APC members-elect
later that day addressed journalists at the NUJ secretariat saying they staged
the walk-out from the chamber as the list read by Sani was prepared from the
Government House.
Abdulmumuni, (Ankpa,
APC) who spoke on behalf of the APC said they do not recognise the pronounced
list of officers as he stressed that it was too early for the executive to
dictate the proceedings of the legislative arm of government.
Following the
expiration of the 24 hour ultimatum, the APC members-elect pledged to elect
their own Speaker along with other principal officers; a development the PDP
supported Speaker, Lawal described as a premeditated and ill-conceived plan to
destabilise the activities of the House.
Speaker speaks
Though the APC is yet
to carry out their threats, but the Speaker of the Assembly, Lawal, described
the APC legislators’ walk-out and threat to form a parallel principal officer’s
as untenable. “The minority group want to impose their will on the majority.
The threat by the APC to form a parallel House leaders is undemocratic and at
variance to any form of reasoning,” he said in a statement as he called on them
to join hands with other members of the House.
Though the PDP has 14
of the 25 seats in the House, the party leaders were afraid of a competitive
election as they feared that the 11 APC legislators would vote as a bloc with
about two or three PDP renegades to twist the will of the PDP. The APC members
were more favourable to Godwin Osiyi (PDP, Ogori/Mangogo) and were said to have
secretly endorsed him. Besides, at least four PDP members were also said to
have endorsed him.
The endorsement was
partly because Lawal who also served as speaker in the recently dissolved House
was generally regarded as leading a legislature that was a rubberstamp of the
executive.
The PDP ahead of the
governorship election later this year was, however, becoming very sensitive to
all issues, especially ethnic balancing.
A source in the party
revealed that the speaker had been zoned to Kogi Central. “The SSG position is
already occupied by an Ogori/Mangogo man, Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede; where the
same Osiyi hails from. Giving the Speakership position to Ogori again will be a
spite on the Ebira people in the central axis of the State and a loss to the
PDP in the axis.” The APC by supporting Osiyi also wanted to truncate the PDP
plan in order to receive sympathy from the zone and hence the covert plan to
push Osiyi ahead of the PDP’s preferred Lawal.
CULLED FROM VANGUARD
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