Kogi gov’s conduct threat to democracy — Senate

The senate, yesterday, said the conduct of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State is a threat to democracy in Nigeria.

This was one of the resolutions passed following a motion moved by Senator Ahmad Ogembe (PDP, Kogi) on the disruption of his empowerment programme on Saturday in Okene, Kogi State.

The senate further resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the disruption of the empowerment programme and the level of involvement of the police.

A two-week timeframe had been given to members of the panel to submit their report. The membership of the committee was not immediately announced.

One of the resolutions reads: “The senate condemns this act and we believe this is a threat to democracy.”

Ogembe told the senate that political thugs disrupted his empowerment programme and that he could no longer go to his constituency freely without being harassed and intimidated.

He said if the situation was left unchecked; it might lead to complete breakdown of law and order in the state.

In his response, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, condemned the act and thereafter listed senators who had issues with their governors.

“People are holding meetings everyday on how to deal with every one of us here (in the senate). No matter the intimidation, we will continue to do our job,” he said.

Ekweremadu said: “If he (Bello) doesn’t stop, there is no how he will come back in 2019, never, no he will not. God will show him that he is a God of justice and this is a message to all those people who have caused all kinds of problem in Nigeria at different level. The problem in Nigeria is that our democracy is receding. Who says army cannot take over ? Let us not joke with our democracy that is the issue.”

He recalled his experience between 2011 and 2015 when he had a running battle with the then Enugu State Governor.

Also speaking, the Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC, Kebbi), said the issue in Kogi was a serious one.

“We can validly say that the Governor of Kogi is a threat to democracy. He is not representing us well as a party that promised to entrench democracy,” he said.

In his remarks, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said, “It is important that we take this discussion on the unfortunate incident that happened to Sen. Ogembe today because it is not really just about Kogi State.

“It is clear from what we are seeing that Kogi State is coming to the point where it is a threat to our democracy and it cannot be seen to define our democracy because this is not what our democracy is about. We must be seen to be making example to other parts of the world.

“Distinguished colleagues, I want you all to contribute and see that we must get to the bottom of this. We must take actions that will prevent this kind of incidents from happening and we must look at what our prayers will be that will have that effect and condemn this in the strongest terms because this kind of action is totally unacceptable and it cannot be allowed to continue.

“We are almost 20 years into democracy and this cannot be the democracy that we should be talking about after 20 years. This is totally unacceptable.

“We saw the case in Kaduna State. How can a governor proudly say he is going to bulldoze a house in Nigeria at this time and we are all keeping quiet? These are things that we must condemn totally,” he said.