When the Kogi State House of Assembly saga broke out, it was apparent to most people in Kogi State that Gov. Yahaya Bello instigated the crisis to have complete control of the House for reasons not clearly noble. Despite his persistent denials of having no hand in the crisis, it was glaring he was into the confusion body, soul and spirit being the author and moderator.
The absurd situation prevailed with the express and tacit support of Alh. Bello until the group of I5 Honourable members reported the matter to the House of Representatives that signified intention to take over the assembly as empowered by the constitution after a fact-finding mission to the state inpite spirited attempts to scuttle the mission by the minority five honourable members. After the concurrence of the senate, the AGF gave a malicious advice the House of Representatives recently rubbished and had the IGP severely reprimanded for undermining the Authority of the House. All this while Gov. Yahaya Bello wily proclaimed there was no crisis and boasted that “my speaker is sitting’ though its obvious no quorum was formed to justify such a mischievous claim
The group of 15 approached the Federal High Court to challenge the illegality of the purported impeachment of Alh Jimoh and all the principal officers of the assembly and judgment is slated for 19th May, 2016 but in a move that exposed the deceit in previous claims of non-interference the governor after approaching the supreme court through his lawyer for judicial interpretation of the confusion contrived by the advice of the AGF still applied to be joined in the suit at the Federal High Court and was obliged. But a deleterious twist was introduced by Gov. Bello’s lawyer via a hoax as packaged in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives allegedly written by the lawyer of the 15 members imploring the House of Representatives to take its hands off the Kogi Assembly issue and asked for the rescinding of the order to reseal the assembly. Confronted by Barr. Ademuyiwa Adeniyi who Gov. Bello’s lawyer claimed authored the fallacy he sent to the National Assembly, it became clear that another forgery and impersonation was perpetrated by Gov. Bello’s lawyer to mislead the National Assembly to undermine the judgment of the Federal High Court which is a rehash of the circumstance that pervaded the bogus impeachment that is the subject of litigation.
For how long will this incongruity bestride Kogi State and when will the ludicrous impunity of Gov. Yahaya Bello come to an end?
The House of Representatives has been duly informed of the infraction by Gov. Bello’s Attorney and appropriate legal action will be taken against the lawyer. The general public is highly advised to discountenance this new display of legal impudence.
Attached herewith is the copy of the irreverent correspondence address to the Speaker, House of Representatives.
Kogi Lawmakers Ask N’assembly To Halt Planned Chamber’s Take Over
May 6, 2016
Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara
Sunday Aborisade, Abuja
15 out of the 20 members of the Kogi State House of Assembly on Friday advised the leadership of the National Assembly to rescind its decision to take over the affairs of the state parliament as a result of the crisis allegedly orchestrated by five of their colleagues.
Aggrieved five out of the 20 lawmakers had reportedly impeached the Speaker, Momoh-Jimoh Lawal on Tuesday, February 16 and named one of them, Mr. Umar Iman, as his successor.
The development degenerated into a serious crisis which forced the Speaker, House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara requesting the House to investigate the current crisis and the federal parliament decided to take over the affairs of the institution.
But Lawal and 14 lawmakers including the principal officers of the State House of Assembly, in a letter to Dogara through their counsel, Messrs Ademuyiwa Adeniyi, advised the federal lawmakers to steer clear of their affairs because the matter was already in court.
The legislators also informed the federal parliament that its order directing the sealing-off of the Kogi House of Assembly premises was illegal as it does not have power to do so.
They said, “In the light of the above reasons and the simple fact that the House order directing the sealing-off, of the Kogi State House of Assembly is no less an executive order over which the House of Representatives lack the vires to make.
“The making of such order is situated in the Executive by the Constitution which recognises the separation of power of the three arms of government as the hallmark of democracy.
“We therefore advise that the directive that the Kogi State House of Assembly be sealed-off, be rescinded without delay.”
The lawmakers said there were several suits pending in various courts and that the federal parliament should respect its own convention to abstain from any matter that is already a subject of litigation.
The letter further reads, ” We learnt reliably from the publications repeatedly broadcast and published on both print and electronic media that an ad-hoc committee set up and designated by the House of Representatives ordered and directed the Inspector General of Police and some other law enforcement agencies to seal off the premises and precincts of the Kogi State House of Assembly and thereby prevent the said House from carrying out its legislative business guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
Story Written by freelance journalist Lekan Ayenugba
