Ibraheem Al-Hassan, the tribunal’s Head, Press & Public Relations disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

Those to be charged alongside the speaker are former Clerk of assembly, Aaron Timiye and former Accountant, Thomas Tamaraodubo.

Others are Owudogu Edward serving Clerk, of the assembly and Koroye Stephen, serving accountant of the assembly.

Al-Hassan said the alleged offences bordered on gross misconduct and abuse of office.

“Chairman Code of Conduct Tribunal Justice Danladi Y. Umar, has approved May 22 for the commencement of trial against serving Speaker and four others.

“The offences are alleged abused of office against Benson, the Speaker Bayelsa state House of Assembly.

“This was contained in a correspondent from Code of Conduct Bureau, addressed to Chairman Code of Conduct Tribunal to commence trial, dated April 30, jointly signed by the operatives of Code of Conduct Bureau: Musa Usman and Fatima Ahmed’’, he said.

The charge was brought to the tribunal pursuant to Section 24 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

According to the charge, the alleged actions of the defendants are contrary to paragraph 9 of the fifth schedule, part 1 of the 1999.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the offences are punishable under paragraph 18 (1) and (2) of the same constitution, and Sections 13 and 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act CAP C15 LFN 2004.

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The court’s affirmation has ended weeks of denials by Benson on the December 9, 2015 judgment in a case filed by candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state House of Assembly election, Ebifaghe Orunimighe.

The court on that day declared Benson’s election null and void.

Benson refused to relinquish the Southern Ijaw Constituency 4 seat and his speakership position, insisting that the written judgment was different from the court’s records of proceedings which dismissed the appeal.

He continued to retain his seat and also chaired the House that received the state’s 2016 Appropriation Bill from the state Governor, Seriake Dickson.

But on February 10, the court ruling on a fresh application filed by Benson validated its earlier judgment that nullified the election of the former speaker.

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The Commissioner of Police in Bayelsa, Hilary Okpara, who confirmed the incident, said the victim was abducted at about 3 a.m. at his residence in Korokorosei village in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.

Okpara said that the police special anti-kidnap squad was on the trail of the kidnappers. “We have got information on the incident, the DPO in the area and the Assistant Commissioner of Police have briefed me and the good thing is that we have known the direction the hoodlums are heading to so we shall round them up,” Okpara said.

The commissioner assured that the gunmen would be apprehended and the victim, who was the immediate past chairman of the community’s development committee, released.

The commissioner also said that the 90-year-old Florentina Paulker, mother of Emmanuel Paulker representing Bayelsa Central, who was abducted in July would soon be rescued.

“We have made some progress on that incident, we arrested one of them within hours and the next day we arrested three more subjects who are helping us and we are still making more arrests.

“It is a syndicate from what we have found out, we have cut off the communication link between the suspects in our custody and those holding the woman, so we are hoping that soon we shall free her,” he said.

Paulker, who was abducted on July 30 in Opollo area of Yenagoa, had been kidnapped in 2010, but was freed after eight days in captivity.

The security agents at the time killed one of the kidnappers in a shoot-out.

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Curiously, the kidnappers were said to have asked the commissioner to resign from the cabinet of Governor Seriake Dickson as a ransom to free his mother.

The latest incident came 18 days after the 90-year-old mother-in-law of the Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson, was kidnapped by gunmen at Korokorosei community, Southern Ijaw.

While the security agencies were still searching for the speaker’s mother-in-law identified as Ogboro Orumo, gunmen struck at Ofoinbiri, in the same local government area and whisked away Akene’s mother.

The Nation gathered that Patimi was abducted over the weekend from her community described by security operatives as “very remote.”

The commissioner’s mother and one of her granddaughters were returning home from a church vigil at about 1am on Saturday when the gunmen seized her.

They were said to have immediately ferried the victim to the creeks sing their speedboat.

Akene, who confirmed his mother’s abduction, said the gunmen abducted her without firing a bullet.

He further confirmed that the septuagenarian was in the company of her granddaughter when the assailants struck.

He said the hoodlums covered their victim’s mouth with a handkerchief when she screamed for help and threatened to kill her and her granddaughter.

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The assembly also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare his presidential ambition for 2015.

The House was jolted by reports that 11 of its 24 members had defected to APC.

But rising from an emergency meeting at the Assembly Quarters, Yenagoa, the lawmakers flayed the report and insisted that the assembly was intact.

The Speaker of the House, Kombowei Benson, said all the lawmakers remained loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party, President Jonathan and the state party Chairman, Col. Sam Inokoba (rtd).

Benson said they were happy at the transformation agenda of President Jonathan and the restoration programme of the state Governor, Seriake Dickson.

He said it was baseless to insinuate that lawmakers defected to APC because the former governor of the state,  Timipre Sylva, under whose tenure they were elected, had joined the APC.

He said it was also premature to speculate that some lawmakers were planning to join the APC and use it as a platform to return to the assembly in 2015.

On why 18 out of the 24 assembly members attended the emergency meeting, the speaker said some members were on medical trips while others obtained permission to stay away.

“The reports of defection are fallacious. There is no cause for any member to think of defecting to APC. The Bayelsa State House of Assembly is intact,” he said.

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