The Kogi House of Assembly yesterday suspended nine lawmakers over alleged acts of terrorism and electoral violence during Saturday’s House of Assembly election in the state.
Also yesterday, an independent monitoring group, under the aegis of Forum of Election Observers Groups, declared that the outcome of the governorship and house of assembly elections in Ogun State largely reflect the opinion of the vast majority of residents, in line with the assessment of various stakeholders, including local observers.
The suspended lawmakers in Kogi are Muktar Bajeh (Majority leader -Okehi), Daniya Ranyi (Bassa), Suleiman Attajachi (Idah), Bello Hassan (Ajaokuta) and Edoko Moses-Ododo (Ibaji).
Others are Abubakar Tanko (Kogi/Koto), Atabor Cosmas-Llemona (Igalamela/Odolu) Kilani Olusola-Olumo (Ijumu) and Mohammed Lawi-Ahmed (Okene 1). They were alleged to have breached the conduct of March 18 House of Assembly elections in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports in Lokoja, the state capital, that the suspension of the lawmakers was sequel to a letter received from Gov. Yahaya Bello dated March 23.
Also, another letter dated March 22, was from the state leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) demanding the suspension of seven local government chairmen for alleged acts of electoral violence.
While Bello’s letter harped on the suspended lawmakers, the second letter written and signed by the state APC Chairman, Abubakar Bello, was on the suspended council chairmen.
They were asked to be investigated by the House Adhoc Committee headed by the Deputy Speaker, Alfa Rabiu-Momoh. The APC chairman asked for the suspension of seven local government chairmen of Bassa with his vice, Ogorimagogo with his vice, Yagba West, Ibaji, Kabba/Bunu, Ajaokuta and Adavi. The third letter received by the House was a petition from nine out of 10 councillors of Lokoja LGA, asking for the investigation of the council chairman, Dansabe Muhammed, over an alleged misappropriation of about N150 million revenue allocations received by the council. On deliberations, the House also suspended the chairman and the Leader of the legislative Arm to give room for smooth investigation of the matter raised by the councillors.
The speaker of the House, Matthew Kolawale, while speaking on the suspended colleagues, described their involvement in “terrorism and electoral violence’’ as “very unfortunate” and “uncalled.”
Contributing to the debate on the allegations levelled against the lawmakers, the deputy speaker, from Ankpa 2 state constituency, supported the suspension of lawmakers over the said allegations.
“I’m in strong support of their suspension simply because the state is bigger than any personal interest more so that lawmakers should not be found contravening the laws, which they themselves made,” Rabiu-Momoh said.
In Ogun State, the Coordinator of the Forum of Election Observers Groups, Ayodeji Ologun, at a media briefing in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday, expressed a vote of confidence in INEC over the conduct and eventual results of the polls. Instructively, the groups were among the 146,913 observers accredited by INEC to observe the 2023 general elections.
According to Ologun: “As a group, we observed the 2023 Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly elections, and we wish to state that the results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), during the last Governorship and State Assembly election, were consistent with our parallel vote tabulation results estimates.
“A classic of this, is the result of the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Ogun State, which were monitored by many of our leaders herein present. Not minding various reactions that have trailed the outcome of the elections, we consider it a patriotic duty to inform Nigerians about our observations, and ultimately advise against tendencies that seek to undermine the progress being recorded in our democratic journey as a nation.
