The Kogi state House of Assembly was again thrown into confusion on Tuesday as five out of the of the 20 members sat to remove Rt Hon Momoh Lawal, as the Speaker of the house and replaced him with Umar Imam.
Apart from the Speaker, the people also said they had removed Hon Kolawole Matthew as the majority leader, while the post of deputy speaker is yet to be filled as they were still consulting over who should occupy the post.
But Lawal, who was flanked by the remaining 15 members of the house, said he remained the speaker as it was laughable for only five people to carry out the purported impeachment.
Tension and apprehension have enveloped the assembly complex located oppsite of the state high court as men of the Department of State Security (DSS), mobile and regular police were drafted to the complex to maintain security following the hint that some members were about to carry out the impeachment.
However, at about 12 noon, five members including Friday Sani, Umar Imam, Abdulahi Bello, Lawi Ahmed and Sunday Abbah went into the assembly and locked themselves inside without allowing newsmen and the public to witness the proceedings.
After over one hour, the people emerged from the chambers and Sani told newsmen that Lawal has been impeached and himself elected as the majority leader.
He said Lawal was removed because the assembly no longer work as he (Lawal) has bee running the legislature like a "sole proprietor" with its attendant effects on the performance of the house.
According to him, 15 members of the house had earlier agreed and signed that the speaker should voluntarily resign after the emergence of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as the governor of the state.
He said, "The resolution we reached at our sitting today include the removal of the speaker of Kogi state House of Assembly, the new speaker is Hon Umar Imam, only one principal office was stepped down today and that is the position of the deputy speaker and the reason being that we need further consultation of members to arrive at a decision because there are two good contenders.
" We have come to a point where we cannot operate in this state without an assembly, we all know the role an assembly like that of Kogi state should play in the governancd of the people of the state, but by the time the speaker cannot reconvene the house may be because of the threat of impeachment, so we cannot continue.
"The reason for the removal is not far from the fact that the assembly cannot sit, we need a situation where the assembly can sit, we need a leadership that can be accepted by the members of the Kogi state house of assembly and that is why the change is imminent and we have done it".
However, addressing newsmen at the Speaker's lodge, Lokoja, Lawal said it was wrong for the members to meet at the office of the Chief Whip and carried out an impeachment without a formal sitting in the chambers.
The embattled speaker also said 15 members met on Tuesday and passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of the house, wondering why the pro-impeachment group got the number they were parading.
He said, "By the powers vested on speaker after consultations with members, I issued the proclamation that the hiuse will resume on Thursday, any sitting outside Thursday is illegal. The assembly is an institution, it is not a place where somebody will sit in his office and say the speaker has been impeached.
On the allegation that Lawal agreed to resign after the meeting with Bello, he said, "The governor is not the one that elected me as the speaker, the house is an institution, the members are the one to decide if I should resign and not the governor, the governor heads the executive and we are a different arm of government, how can governor interfere in the affairs of the assembly, the governor has no right to call for my resignation.
"No 15 members signed the purported impeachment notice, this morning (Tuesday) 15 members came to my house to pass a vote of confidence on the leadership of the Kogi state house of assembly. We are 20 in the assembly, how can 15 members again sign my impeachment paper, that is illegal, it is fake and a forgery".

http://tribuneonlineng.com/fresh-crisis-rocks-kogi-assembly-speaker-impeached-by-5-out-of-20-members-0

All these people sef, na so dem go fight themselves till another election come and then we go start to dey wonder how another 4years went by without development.

I wish when there's crisis of this nature, allowances should be put on hold and no backlog payment.