The Senate on Thursday directed the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, to seal the Kogi State House of Assembly complex until the current crisis in the Assembly was resolved.
The Senate also concurred with the House of Representatives, in its resolution that the National Assembly should take over the legislative functions of the troubled assembly, pending the restoration of normalcy in the place.
The Upper Chamber further declared as null and void, the impeachment proceedings embarked upon by five members of the Assembly, who purportedly impeached the Speaker, Momoh Jimoh Lawal.
It also condemned the role played by the Nigerian Police in subverting the provisions of the constitution by providing cover for only five members, out of the 20-member assembly, to commit the illegal impeachment.
The resolutions followed the consideration of a report, entitled “Concurrence with the House of Representatives” transmitted to it by the House of Representatives, and presented by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.
In their contributions, senators condemned the purported impeachment of the Speaker of the Kogi Assembly, describing the action as a rape on democracy and called that such executive rascality should not be allowed to continue in the country in the interest of the growing democracy.
Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, Emmanuel Bwacha, noted that a government of change must not allow such illegality to continue in the nation’s democracy.
He urged his colleagues not to hesitate in concurring on the matter with their counterparts in the House of Representatives.
He cautioned that the National Assembly must not politicise the issue, arguing that if the apex parliament did not take decisive action on the situation, they would be victims of similar lawlessness one day.
“A government of change cannot allow this kind of brigandage under its watch. This is executive rascality; our concurrence is timely. If we support this kind of voodoo democracy, one day, a few rascals will come here and sack us”.
Also, Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South), wondered why such undemocratic practice should be contemplated by those in government, after the nation’s democracy had run for 17 years.
He, therefore, urged his colleagues to quickly concur with the resolutions of the House to facilitate expeditious implementation of the report and for accelerated resolution of Kogi Assembly crisis.
However, Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West) attempted to stop the Senate from considering the report, as he raised a point of order, drawing the attention of the Senate to the fact that judicial remedy was pending on the matter in court.
He argued that the Order 41 (6 and 7) of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended), forbade the Senate from entertaining any petition or motion on any issue pending in court for judicial remedy.
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, however, ruled him out of order, explaining that the matter was neither a motion nor a petition, but a report from the sister Chamber for concurrence.
He also drew the attention of the lawmakers to the fact that the matter should not be politicised, saying that the Kogi Assembly debacle was beyond partisanship.
Saraki said that there was need to quickly bring the crisis to an end and bring stability to Kogi Assembly, so that it could resume its legislative functions in full force.
It would be recalled that the leadership crisis in the Kogi State House of Assembly deteriorated on February 16 when five All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers, out of the present 20-member assembly, said they had impeached the Speaker.
The group of five lawmakers also named Umar Imam, representing Lokoja I Constituency, as the new speaker of the Assembly; Friday Makama as the new majority leader; Lawi Ahmed as the deputy majority leader and John Abba as the new chief whip.
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