By Ibrahim Ahmadu.
There are strong indications that some lawmakers in the Kogi State House of Assembly are already ganging up to show the Speaker of the House the exit door for his failure to romance some of the policies of the executive arm of government who brought him into power. Our correspondent, in this feature, takes a look at the political development in the Kogi State House of Assembly and another round of possible crisis in the House if the current leadership is removed through impeachment.
Since the coming together of the current Sixth Assembly in Kogi State, there has been leadership crisis in the House.
The state Assembly, since 1999 when the country returned to democratic governance, has not enjoyed peace. Aside when Rt. Honourable Clarence Olafemi was Speaker of the House between 2007-2011, no other Speaker stayed in the position for 4 legislative years. No term has gone without two or three Speakers emerging to lead the House and mostly in a dramatic manner that is at variance with democratic ethos.
Genesis
Before the expiration of the tenure of former Governor Idris Wada, the member representing Ogori-Magongo state constituency, Hon. Godwin Osuyi (PDP), who is the current Minority Leader, in November 2015 championed an impeachment process against the then leadership of the House under Rt. Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal (PDP Okene).
During this period he (Osuyi) described Momoh Jimoh as incompetent to lead but him and his group failed to gain the backing of the former governor which later led to an abortive impeachment before the January 2016 expiration of the PDP government in Kogi state.
Honourable Godwin Osuyi accused the Governor of being the originator of the then crisis. He also talked about a particular arm of the legislative chamber that is called hazard department who are not politicians.
According to Osuyi; “We are supposed to be 25 Honourable members, majority are on my side and they were absent and yet budget was presented, well Wada is the Governor and he has presented his budget to where he wanted to present it so let us wait and see”.
When the new direction government under the watch of governor Yahaya Bello came into being on January 27th 2016, the crisis in the House got messier as five lawmakers under the camp of the current speaker, Rt. Honourable Ahmed Imam Umar allegedly impeached the then speaker who is a PDP member hence bringing to limelight for the first time the acronyms G-5 and G-15 Lawmakers.
According to the then aggrieved G-15 lawmakers, the impeachment of Rt Honourable Momoh Jimoh Lawal was masterminded by the governor who is looking for a stooge to manipulate in the legislative chamber. The crisis grew, accusations and counter accusations became the order of the day, legislative activities were paralyzed, the state was on a stand still as all parties were unwilling to sheath their swords.
Friday Sanni Makama (PDP Igalamela Odolu) led the G5 to succeed in this act.
After due consultation and negotiations, the G15 Lawmakers succumbed to pressure allowing Ahmed Imam, the governor’s choice, to lead the Assembly.
The baton later turned against Friday Sanni Makama (PDP Igalamela Odolu) after he was seen criticizing the governor for his alleged impunity in the state.
He stated in an interview with reporters in Abuja that “Bello is a tyrant who has seized the functions of the state Assembly in order to perpetuate his evil agenda through mischief makers, whom he has planted in government.”
But this did not go down well with some of the lawmakers as the member representing Ajaokuta bello Abdullahi Balogun on March 28th 2017 moved a motion of urgent public importance calling for the suspension of his colleagues for alleged anti party activities.
How things are gradually falling apart between Imam and Bello
After the celebration of the second anniversary of the sixth Assembly under Ahmed Imam, where it was revealed that over 200 resolutions were passed, things began to fall apart slowly between the leadership of the House and Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
In his anniversary speech, the Speaker frowned at the continuous suffering of the state civil servants due to the unending screening exercise. He urged the governor to pay workers’ salary as quickly as possible.
According to insider sources in the camp of the executives, the aforementioned statement was described as a deliberate attempt to rubbish Yahaya Bello’s integrity in the state.
The ongoing recall process of the senator representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye, where Speaker Ahmed Imam comes from, opened another chapter in the governor-speaker relationship. A ‘palace coup’ is being planned silently to oust the current leadership of the Assembly.
Throw back to his emergence as the lawmaker representing Lokoja 1 in 2015, Speaker Ahmed Imam was Senator Dino Melaye choice as APC candidate. He campaigned for Ahmed Imam.
In a recent statement credited to the Speaker Ahmed Imam, he was alleged to have said; “I am in for genuine reconciliation and not for a recall”. It was alleged that pressure was mounted on him to mobilize his constituents against the embattled Senator Melaye.
Move to impeach speaker
According to a government house source, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Edward Onoja who many see as the right hand man to Governor Yahaya Bello, was alleged to be championing the impeachment of the Speaker since he is failing to dance to the tune of the executive.
It was gathered from a reliable source that the Majority Leader, Prince Mathew Kolawole has been penciled down to replace Ahmed Imam if they eventually succeed with their plans.
Mathew Kolawole (APC Kabba Bunu), Bello Hassan Balogun (APC Ajaokuta) and Ahmed Mohammed (APC Ankpa 1) are the three lawmakers, according to sources, who recently developed close relationship with the governor and they are alleged to be in the forefront to execute the task given to them from the top.
Onoja has come out to debunk the insinuation that there are moves to impeach Speaker Imam but the noticeable moves by ambitious members of the House still gives cause for concern. It is believed in several quarters that impeachment of Imam Ahmed as Speaker will pave way for another round of legislative crisis in the state. Under Imam, the House has witnessed peace and stability.
Some of the lawmakers have pledged their loyalty to the current leadership, but who will be ready to stand by him if this eventually come to stage? This has become an issue of concern among public commentators in the state.
Consequence of another impeachment
The executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, Comrade Idris Miliki admonished lawmakers not to sell their conscience because of money noting that the house must not fall.
“I think if this is true, it will be an unfortunate development. We have had enough avoidable crisis in the state assembly in terms of exchange of leadership. Under the present leadership of the Assembly, we have seen the House collaborating seamlessly with the executives, to our own surprise.
“I think the Speaker, since he was formally inaugurated, in my own opinion has done well.
“Is that change still coming again from the executive that has been causing problems, behaving like touts and fighting everybody in every bus stop?
“What will be their reason for changing the leadership of the Assembly and who will they now put that will perform better than what the state is having now? I think this move, if it exist, is condemnable and it will cripple the development of the Assembly and the state in general.
“If the Speaker is impeach again, their will be conflict and divisions along ethnic lines, senatorial district lines and there will be no development in the state. The greatest consequences of this is that the Assembly will no longer be independent again.
“Imagine the extension of local government administrators’ tenure, they did that just to satisfy the executive. So, on what basis did they want to impeach the Speaker?
“The implications are enormous. It will cause unrest in the state, there will be no independence of the Assembly and nothing will work again”, he said.
On the way forward, Miliki said the assembly is stabilized and should be allowed to continue.
“The speaker has committed no crime as he has been piloting the affairs of the Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 constitutions, as amended”, he added.
