There was free-for-all at the early hours of Thursday , with a member of the Kogi State House of Assembly losing two of his teeth at the state governor’s residence when a meeting held to find political solution to the leadership crises in the state Assembly ended in a deadlock.
The meeting held at ‘High Ground’, a private residence of the governor, had former governor Ibrahim Idris, the state governor, Captain Idris Wada and all the lawmakers, except the Speaker, Hon. Abdulahi Bello, who was hospitalised in a private hospital in Abuja, in attendance.
It was a follow-up to an earlier mediation meeting held at Ibro Hotel, Abuja last Monday.
The meeting slated for 9.pm eventually started at about 12.20 am.
But inner sources hinted that trouble started when the agenda of the meeting was perceived to have changed, which did not go down well with the pro-speaker Bello lawmakers.
According to a source, who was present at the meeting: “The meeting which was at the instance of the former governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris was meant to return the House to status quo ante, but when the meeting started, we suspected foul play and as such, we disagreed with their illegal proposition.”
The proposition, according to the source, was that the Majority Leader, Hon. Yunusa Yakubu, should write a letter of proclamation to the Speaker for endorsement and approval so that the Assembly could seat.
Though that would have nullified the initial impeachment, but the grouse was that the Speaker was to resign honourably at the resumed sitting of the Assembly:
“It was that suggestion that sparked the fight.
“The Minority Leader, Yori Afolabi, stood up to note that the suggestion was wrong and that, Kogi had been in the news for so many wrong reasons and there was every reason to first right the wrong before talking about Speaker Bello’s resignation.
“It was at that point that Hon. Friday Makama, who had been pacing around with a bottle of stout attempted to shut him up and that led to the fight,” the source said further.
It was during the melee, a notable member of the group of 12 lawmakers lost two of his teeth before other lawmakers present could separate the warring lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the elders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan over the state of affairs in the state have been accused of leaving “precincts of truth and probity to traverse the terrain of outright falsehood in order to vilify the administration.”
The meeting held at ‘High Ground’, a private residence of the governor, had former governor Ibrahim Idris, the state governor, Captain Idris Wada and all the lawmakers, except the Speaker, Hon. Abdulahi Bello, who was hospitalised in a private hospital in Abuja, in attendance.
It was a follow-up to an earlier mediation meeting held at Ibro Hotel, Abuja last Monday.
The meeting slated for 9.pm eventually started at about 12.20 am.
But inner sources hinted that trouble started when the agenda of the meeting was perceived to have changed, which did not go down well with the pro-speaker Bello lawmakers.
According to a source, who was present at the meeting: “The meeting which was at the instance of the former governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris was meant to return the House to status quo ante, but when the meeting started, we suspected foul play and as such, we disagreed with their illegal proposition.”
The proposition, according to the source, was that the Majority Leader, Hon. Yunusa Yakubu, should write a letter of proclamation to the Speaker for endorsement and approval so that the Assembly could seat.
Though that would have nullified the initial impeachment, but the grouse was that the Speaker was to resign honourably at the resumed sitting of the Assembly:
“It was that suggestion that sparked the fight.
“The Minority Leader, Yori Afolabi, stood up to note that the suggestion was wrong and that, Kogi had been in the news for so many wrong reasons and there was every reason to first right the wrong before talking about Speaker Bello’s resignation.
“It was at that point that Hon. Friday Makama, who had been pacing around with a bottle of stout attempted to shut him up and that led to the fight,” the source said further.
It was during the melee, a notable member of the group of 12 lawmakers lost two of his teeth before other lawmakers present could separate the warring lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the elders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan over the state of affairs in the state have been accused of leaving “precincts of truth and probity to traverse the terrain of outright falsehood in order to vilify the administration.”
No comments:
Post a Comment