The crisis in Kogi State House of Assembly remains a
sad commentary on all the political gladiators in the state. Considering the
imbroglio foisted on the state by the unfortunate demise of late Prince
Abubakar Audu and the resultant debacle, it is sad that another crucial arm of
government, the legislature is enmeshed in unnecessary
and avoidable bickering. Many thought with the inauguration of Alhaji Yahaya
Bello as the Governor, relative sanity will return to the House but events have
proven this a wrong assertion.
The House was able to pull its act together and this
was exhibited in the manner with which the Deputy-Governor nominee sent to the
House was confirmed with dispatch. It is however, ironic that the same Deputy- Governor
confirmed by the Assembly became the agent of destabilization
in the assembly crisis as soon as he was sworn
in.
But soon afterwards, insinuations started flying all
over on the underhand dealings between the Governor and the assembly members
over modalities of how to effect changes in the leadership of the House to
correct the imbalance in the distribution of political offices that has the
three first positions in the state in order of protocol occupied by persons
from the same senatorial district, Kogi Central.
Sources said that this should normally be a seamless
process considering the cooperative disposition of the assembly, but that the
insistence of Alh. Yahaya Bello to handpick and impose a new Speaker from his
party which is in the minority in the House is the sole reason for the crisis that
eventually led to the taking over of the Assembly by the National Assembly.
An inside source, who craved anonymity, revealed that
the Speaker, Alhaji Mohammed Jimoh agreed to step down in order to move the
state forward, but that he expected the final outcome to be from the
deliberations in the House.
Unknown to him however, the Governor reportedly had
other ideas, which manifested in the criminal but futile attempt by five of the
lawmakers to impeach, not only the Speaker, but the entire House leadership in
a House of twenty-five members.
The Governor’s refusal to allow the legislators choose
their leaders allegedly snowballed into the crisis that engulfed the assembly.
For a Governor plagued with credibility issues
considering the manner he emerged, sources stated that it was surprising that
he would engage in any activity that would aggravate the sordid situation in
the state.
Despite the fact that he is feigning innocence, we
gathered that it is incontrovertible that Gov. Yahaya Bello is the cause for
the closure of Kogi State House of Assembly for ignoble reasons. Apart from
this, it was gathered that this was an act of inexperience ‘considering the
fact that his stint in politics is less than one year before he was conscripted
to substitute the late Prince Abubakar Audu.’
“It is obvious
the Governor knows little about governance and sees the perpetuation of the
crisis in the state a good opportunity for unfettered and unrestricted
appropriation of funds.
“For example, a loan of N1.9 billion was taken from
Zenith Bank without approval from the House of Assembly in contravention of
extant laws.
“The Governor also claimed to have spent N100 million
to renovate the Government House while all he did was to rehabilitate the Presidential
Lodge, which he converted to his office while the Governor’s Office has not been renovated,” said a
source.
The sources added that for a state that is almost
bankrupt to witness such profligacy is really unfortunate; and that with the inability of the government
to fulfill its obligations to its workers, all hands should be on deck to find
and apply solution to the myriads of challenges facing the state.
“The earlier Gov. Yahaya Bello understands that there
can be no development in an atmosphere of confusion the better for the state.
The principle of separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution must be respected
and obeyed by both the Executive and legislative arms of
Government,” said another informant.
Many people have said that it is important for Alh.
Yahaya Bello to understand that he still has opportunity to write his name in
gold in the history of Kogi State despite the obvious reality that his tenure might
be brief.
“But even at that, a politician like Dr. Chris Ngige
has shown it is really not how long one occupies a political office that
determines performance because over a decade after his short and tumultuous
tenure as Anambra State Governor he left indelible marks in the state that
remained a template for purposeful governance in his state,” a source offered.