Five members of the Kogi House of Assembly on Thursday boycotted a meeting with House of Representatives delegation which went to Lokoja to intervene in the assembly crisis.
The Deputy Chief Whip, House of Representatives, Rep. Pally Iriase, while addressing the 15 members supporting the embattled Speaker, Mr Momoh Jimoh, told the lawmakers that they were on a fact finding mission.
He said, “The fact finding mission by the members is to ascertain the true nature of the crisis rocking the state assembly.”
Iriase, who led the delegation, said the visit became necessary following a petition from some members of the assembly.
According to him, the house resolved on Feb. 23 to send the delegation to the state to see how the crisis could be resolved amicably.
“We feel that there are stakeholders in this business that we cannot just wish away. We have had audience with the governor, based on our desired goal; we will get to the root of what happened.
“We have interfaced with the State Director of the Department of State Security Service and the Commissioner of Police. We have to do all of that so that we can have background information.
“Information that will enable us engage separately with the two groups.
“What I see here appears to be the group of 15; there is another group of five and we are here primarily to gather facts around the crisis.
“We hope to bring about peace in your state with your cooperation,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the delegation thereafter went into a closed-door meeting with members of the assembly.
Speaking after the meeting, Iriase said that enough information had been gathered to enable the delegation to write its report for submission to the House of Representatives.
The embattled Speaker, Mr Momoh-Jimoh Lawal, thanked the delegation for it’s intervention and expressed the hope that peace would reign so that the house could resume sitting.
NAN recalled that the five members who boycotted the meeting had purportedly impeached Lawal and other principal officers of the assembly on Feb. 16.
The members also said they had elected Umar Ahmed Imam (APC-Lokoja 1) as the new speaker, with Friday Sani (PDP-Igalamela-Odolu) as the Majority Leader, adding that other principal positions would be filled later.
Following the development, the assembly was closed down indefinitely.
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