The crisis rocking the Kogi State House of Assembly yesterday, turned a new twist, as the assembly complex was sealed off by the police.
The Speaker of the assembly allegedly impeached on Tuesday, Momohjimoh Lawal, had dismissed the purported impeachment as huge joke and said 15 legislators including him out of the 20 members house, would resume sitting yesterday.
Though they could not sit, Vanguard was unable to confirm, whether the police seal-off prevented their sitting.
In a replica of the 2012 assembly crisis, stern looking policemen, who claimed they were acting on ‘order from above’, chased out the workers and sealed off the premises.
They also padlocked the front gate of the Assembly complex located along Hassan Katsina road . Commissioner of Police, Besan Gwana, said the seal-off became necessary following information that some persons were coming to the Assembly complex to foment trouble.
The embattled Speaker had on Wednesday led other 14 members to Abuja to lodge a petition with the House of Representative over the crisis. Lawal had also accused the governor, Yahaya Bello of withdrawing his security attaché, thereby exposing him and other members to danger of possible attacks.
However, the Special Adviser on Media to the embattled Speaker, Felix Udebu, disclosed that some of the security personnel withdrawn on Tuesday were returned to the Speaker’s residence on Wednesday night.
Vanguard gathered that those security operative were returned to Lawal’s residence on order of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase.
Governor Yahaya Bello has however, distanced himself from the assembly crisis, noting he never interfered in the affairs of the legislature in line with his determination to promote the rule of law and strict adherence to separations of power.
