How leadership crisis tears Kogi Assembly apart
The 6th Assembly in Kogi State promised to be a turbulent one as the on-going crisis over election of its leadership has shown.
The Kogi State House of Assembly at its inaugural sitting was marred by crisis as the 11 members-elect of the All Progressives Congress (APC) staged a walkout during the election of the speaker and other principal officers of the House.
The APC members were protesting the election of Momoh Jimoh Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as speaker along with other principal officers who were expected to oversee the affairs of the 6th Assembly.
The Assembly has been dominated since 2003, by the PDP, which always had two third majority of members.
The PDP had majority in the House from 2003 to 2007; it also consolidated its position from 2007 to 20011. Between 2011 and 2015, it has 20 members, leaving the opposition with five. It therefore had free run in its hold and control of the Assembly within those periods.
But in the 6th Assembly, the centre could not hold for the PDP which has 14 members against APC’s 11. The PDP therefore couldn’t have gotten the two third majority it enjoyed in the past if the election were to be conducted.
The mood at the Assembly during the proclamation by Governor Idris Wada was a happy one as supporters of memberselect sang and danced in celebration. But the mood suddenly changed as soon as the governor left the floor of the House to pave way for the election of principal officers.
The Clerk of the House, Simon Momoh had called for nomination of members for the position of speaker and other principal officers of the House.
However, after the members representing Igalamela/Odolu constituency, Friday Sani (PDP) had nominated Hon Lawal as speaker, no other nomination was allowed again.
Efforts by a member of the APC representing Ankpa 1, Hon. Abdulmumini Ibrahim, to raise a counter-nomination was ignored by the Clerk, who foreclosed any other nomination.
Rabiu Alfa (APC-Ankpa II) also decried the conduct, describing it as an aberration as it ran contrary to the rules, adding that their integrity should not be toyed with as they were mature and responsible men in the House but his plea was ignored.
The Clerk however said that the action was irreversible and went ahead to conduct the rest of the elections and this led to pandemonium with 10 of the 11 All Progressives Congress (APC) members staging a walk-out and boycotting the election altogether.
The action led to commotion in and outside the gallery where angry youths and supporters of both parties resorted to violence and had to be tear-gassed by the police to restore peace.
Despite the walkout, the Assembly went ahead to elect Lawal, representing Okene 1 constituency as speaker, while Ali Akuh representing Omala constituency emerged as the deputy speaker. Friday Sani representing Igalamela/Odula was elected as majority leader and Simon Kolawole representing Kabba was elected as chief whip.
The crisis forced the Assembly to hurriedly adjourn for two months.
The APC afterwards, addressed journalists at the NUJ secretariat in Lokoja, where they gave 24 hour ultimatum to the House to conduct a fresh election.
The spokesman of the group, Abdulmumini Ibrahim said the APC staged the walk-out from the chamber as the list read by Friday Sani was allegedly prepared from the Government House and handed to the PDP members to announce.
He said after the proclamation by the governor and it was time for the members to elect their leadership, a prepared list from one of the PDP members, Friday Sani, was read as a motion for nomination of speaker and deputy and no opportunity was given to APC members to make input.
“We have to boycott the process and as it stands, the Assembly does not have principal officers yet. The nomination does not follow due process as there was no secondment or room for counter nomination,” he said.
After the expiration of the 24-hour ultimatum, the APC members again addressed another press conference and threatened to elect their own speaker and other principal officers of the House if a new election was not conducted.
He said the purported election was a rape on democracy and should not stand.
“We want to let the world know that we don’t have principal officers. We don’t have speaker, the election of Lawal was a mess and a rape on democracy and we shall follow this to a logical conclusion. We are saying that due process must be followed, constitution must be followed. There must be nominations and election before electing a speaker and other principal officers of the House but that never happened. It was a prepared list from the state government and PDP leadership,” he said.
The elected speaker, Lawal said the reasons the APC legislators advanced for their walkout were not tenable.
Lawal who spoke through his media officer, Felix Udebu, said the walkout was planned to frustrate the activities of the PDP-dominated House, wondering why a minority group would want to impose their will on the majority.
“I called on the APC members to tow the line of better reasoning and join hands with the majority members for the good of the state. I assured that the leadership of the House will be fair to all members,” he promised.
Also speaking on the issue, Aliyu Akuh who was elected as deputy speaker in the crisis-ridden election said the House will come out of its leadership crisis stronger.
“I think that some times when an opinion has been expressed, it gives room for dialogue and understanding. I know that definitely we will come out stronger.
“By the grace of God, there will be tremendous development in the state, good laws will be made and I know that definitely, good things will come particularly to our constituencies, Kogi State and Nigeria in general”, he assured.
On the alleged absence of due process and breach of House Rules in the election of the House’s principal officers by the Clerk, Mr. Simon Momoh, Akuh said one should not expect perfection in human conducts at all times.
He advised the members to read the House Rules “very well” and be patient “because in this world, patience matters a lot. We are here as brothers and they have to see it that way.
“In this chamber, we do not follow parties so much; we follow the content of what is before us. By the time we start treating motions and bills, you will know we are brothers. The first interest is the development of Kogi State,” he added.
On his part, Comrade Idris Miliki blamed the Clerk of the House, Simon Momoh and the state government for the crisis rocking the House.
He said the Clerk closed nomination after the Speaker Lawal was nominated which he said, is against the rule of the House, alleging that the Clerk was teleguided by the state government.
Miliki who is the Executive Director, Centre for Human Right and Conflict Resolution said what worries him was even when the APC walked out, the Speaker did not make any efforts to persuade them to return but went ahead, conducted the affairs and adjourned till August 13.
“Why should the House adjourn for eight weeks? The National Assembly after inauguration adjourned for two weeks. What kind of leader will Lawal provide for the House when he had to adjourn for two months, what would they be doing at home?
“Electing a speaker is by simple majority so even if they had allowed the election to take place they would have still won. APC has 11 members while PDP has 14 so what is the hurry about it,” he queried.
As it is now, the crisis is far from being over but it remains to be seen who blinks first in the leadership tussle that engulfed the house.