Governor Idris Wada
Onwuka Nzeshi and Shola Oyeyipo
The House of Representatives Wednesday waded into the crisis rocking the Kogi State House of Assembly.
It also mandated a seven-man committee to investigate the matter.
The committee led by the Deputy Chief Whip, Hon Ahmed Murktar Mohammed, is to visit Kogi State on a fact finding mission.
Other members of the committee includes Hon. Ibrahim El-Sudi (PDP/Taraba), Hon. Pally Iriase (ACN/Edo), Hon. Sokonte Davies (PDP/Rivers), Hon. Nkem Abonta (PDP/Abia), Hon. Adams Jagaba(PDP/Kaduna) and Hon. Ali Ahmad.
Twelve legislators of the 25- member Kogi State House of Assembly had on Tuesday impeached the Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Bello, in controversial circumstances.
The legislative intervention came on the heels of a motion of urgent public importance.
The motion sponsored by Hon. Nicholas Ossai (PDP/Delta) gave an insight into the crisis in Kogi and urged the House of Representatives to intervene without delay.
According to Ossai, the state cannot afford a political crisis while still battling with ecological problems caused by the recent flood.
Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who presided at the plenary session urged lawmakers to avoid being judgmental as it would be rather hasty to draw any conclusion.
He said that it was better to set up a committee to interface between the factions in the Kogi Assembly crisis and ascertain the circumstances that led to the sacking of its leadership.
Meanwhile, the furore generated by the impeachment of along with other principal officers of the House last Tuesday is yet to abate as the impeached speaker has insisted that he is still in-charge.
Consequently, the House is now under lock and key while heavily armed security operatives have been deployed to the House to prevent workers from gaining entry into the Assembly complex.
Bello while reacting to his impeachment on Tuesday, described the action as “illegal and unacceptable,” claiming that majority of House members are still in his camp as he added that the impeachment was carried out when the House was in recess.
Whereas the anti-Bello lawmakers had claimed that 17 of the 25-member House sacked the House leadership, 13 members had dissociated themselves from the purported impeachment, saying they remain Bello’s supporters.
However, a youth group, Kogi Youth Progressive Association (KYPA), has urged people of the state to remain calm in the face of the speaker’s removal. According to National Secretary of KYPA, Comrade Bolla Michael, reasons given for removal of Bello and his deputy, Hon. Emmanuel Mebije, which included their failure to reconvene the House during emergency periods such as the mass killing in Okene and the flood that ravaged the state were justifiable.