Lokoja – Members of the Kogi State House of Assembly have shed more light on why they recently impeached and suspended four Principal Officers of the house.
Some members of the house made the explanation while speaking on the floor of the house on Tuesday.
They described the affected lawmakers as black legs, saying that their stock in trade was to cause rift and disharmony between the executive and legislative arms.
According to them, the impeached and suspended lawmakers have also formed the habit of spreading dissafection among members of the house.
The lawmakers’ position followed the deliberation on the discovery that the suspended lawmakers forged 19 members signatures in what the house described “as evil machinations to impeach the Speaker.”
The house had on June 17 impeached the Deputy Speaker, Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader and the Chief Whip.
Aside the impeachment, the trio of the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Ahmed, Majority Leader, Abdulahi Bello and the Chief Whip, Moses Ododo were also suspended indefinitely from participating in the activities of the house.
New Principal Officers have since been elected to replace them.
The impeached and suspended, Principal Officers in reaction also released an impeachment notice against the Speaker of the house, Hom. Mathew Kolawole and attached 19 signatures of members of the house to the notice.
The purported impeachment of the Speaker was deliberated upon at the house’s plenary on Tuesday during which some members alleged that their signatures were forged and attached to the impeachment notice against the Speaker.
The house consequently ordered it’s Ethics and Privileges committee to commenced investigation into the alleged forgery as members whose signatures were found in the documents have denied ever signing any impeachment notice against the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mathew Kolawole.
All the members who spoke on the issue maintained that they at no time signed any impeachment notice.
They insisted that the signatures attached to the purported impeachment notice was signatures signed by members in May this year, endorsing the Presidential Aspiration of Gov. Yahaya Bello.
They accused the former Deputy Speaker of betrayal of trust, pointing out that the signatures collected to serve as attachment to the communique endorsing Governor Yahaya Bello’s Presidential ambition was maliciously used by him to further his inordinate ambition of removing the speaker
Members maintained that though, the members in question are already on suspension, the issue should be thoroughly investigated and appropriate punishment meted to them to serve as a deterrent.
The House members described the actions of the former Principal Officers as shameful, reprehensible and demanded an unreserved apologies from them.
Ruling on the matter, the Speaker, Hon. Mathew Kolawole described the action of the three suspended members as a gross violation of the house rules and privileges.
He then directed the Chairman ethics and privileges to do a diligent investigation on the matter by giving the acussed members fair hearing and report back to the house.
No time frame for the submission of the report was given.
He also thanked the members for believing in him, promising that the house under his leadership would continue to work harmoniously with the executive to provide the much needed dividends of democracy to the people of the state.
Members who spoke at the plenary to disown the purported impeachment notice are: Hon. Ahmed Dahir, Hon. Isah Umar, Hon. Enema Paul, Hon. Atule Egbunu, Hon. Ibrahim Usman Okadigbo, Hon. Suleiman Musa Atajachi,Hon. Bobby Anthony Ujah, Hon. Aro Aderonke, Hon. Musa Jomoh and
Hon. Akande Moses.
