Police seals off Kogi House of Assembly

LOKOJA—The crisis rocking the Kogi
State House of Assembly yesterday,
turned a new twist, as the assembly
complex was sealed off by the police.
The Speaker of the assembly allegedly
impeached on Tuesday, Momohjimoh
Lawal, had dismissed the purported
impeachment as huge joke and said 15
legislators including him out of the 20
members house, would resume sitting
yesterday.
Though they could not sit, Vanguard was
unable to confirm, whether the police
seal-off prevented their sitting.
In a replica of the 2012 assembly crisis,
stern looking policemen, who claimed
they were acting on ‘order from above’,
chased out the workers and sealed off
the premises.
They also padlocked the front gate of the
Assembly complex located along Hassan
Katsina road .
Commissioner of Police, Besan Gwana,
said the seal-off became necessary
following information that some persons
were coming to the Assembly complex
to foment trouble.
The embattled Speaker had on
Wednesday led other 14 members to
Abuja to lodge a petition with the House
of Representative over the crisis.
Lawal had also accused the governor,
Yahaya Bello of withdrawing his security
attaché, thereby exposing him and
other members to danger of possible
attacks.
However, the Special Adviser on Media
to the embattled Speaker, Felix Udebu,
disclosed that some of the security
personnel withdrawn on Tuesday were
returned to the Speaker’s residence on
Wednesday night.
Vanguard gathered that those security
operative were returned to Lawal’s
residence on order of the Inspector
General of Police, Solomon Arase.
Governor Yahaya Bello has however,
distanced himself from the assembly
crisis, noting he never interfered in the
affairs of the legislature in line with his
determination to promote the rule of
law and strict adherence to separations
of power.