Soldiers storm Kogi Assembly, stop legislators from sitting June 1, 2016

Soldiers storm Kogi Assembly, stop legislators from sitting

June 1, 2016

Nigerian soldiers

Gbenga Lawal

Armed soldiers on Tuesday stormed the Kogi State House of Assembly, where they turned back legislators from entering the parliament.

Last Thursday, a group of legislators operating on the platform of the G15, who had secured an Abuja court ruling, stormed the parliament and held a plenary session.

The soldiers numbering 15 got to the Assembly complex in a truck as early as 6am.

They took over the gate and the road leading to the parliament.

The G15 is led by the embattled Speaker, Mr. Momoh-Jimoh Lawal.

A group of five lawmakers, who operated on the platform of the G5, had announced the impeachment of Lawal, who had the backing of 14 lawmakers.

The court had ruled that the impeachment of Lawal as the speaker was null and void.

Journalists, who arrived at the Assembly to cover proceedings, were turned back by the soldiers.

The soldiers dislodged the riot policemen, who had manned the Assembly’s gate since last week.

Spokesperson for the G15, Matthew Kolawole, expressed shock at the turn of events.

He said the group was shocked to discover that soldiers from the Army Records Unit, Kogi, had barricaded the Assembly’s gate.

Kolawole said the soldiers prevented them from entering the parliament.

He said gunmen in two vans had stormed the Kogi legislative quarters in the midnight of Monday and shot repeatedly into the air in order to intimidate the members of the G15.

But the Special Adviser to the state governor on Media and Strategy, Alhaji Abdulkareem Abdulmalik, denied government’s involvement in the crisis besetting the Assembly.

According to him, the security men were there to prevent a breakdown of law and other.

Also, the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Yakubu Usman, said he withdrew his men in order to prevent a clash that might result in the loss of lives.

Meanwhile, the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission has been called upon to conduct a supplementary election in Idah and Ofu local government areas, where election had been declared inconclusive.