The Kogi state House of Assembly has set plans in motion to file a contempt of court suit against the Speaker of the Federal House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara, the Chairman and Secretary of the 10-man House Committee.
It would be recalled that the Kogi state assembly has been having internal problems that led to the disintegration of the house into factions, one group supporting the impeached speaker, Momoh Jimoh Lawal, the other faction supporting the newly installed speaker.
This prompted the Federal House of Assembly to order the sealing off of the Kogi state assembly complex.
The Kogi state assembly, during its plenary session on Thursday, instituted a committee to investigate members of the house involved in the crisis.
Furthermore, the House rejected the decision of the federal House of Assembly to take over the functions of the state house. Their resolution was hinged on Section 11 (5) of the constitution.
Speaker of the Kogi state House of Assembly stated that: “It is of concern to this Assembly that the House of Representatives should act in flagrant disobedience to the Federal High Court that restrained them from interfering by seeking the appearance of same before it in the determination of such matter as to competence of the House of Representatives to so interfere in the functions of the State Assembly.”
“The continued action of the House of Representatives, despite the court injunction, is not only prejudicial but, abuse of court process and in fact, insult on the preferred rule of law.”
The Speaker, while condemning the House of Representatives’ actions, stated that the federal lawmakers should have made efforts to use internal leadership resolution mechanisms, noting that the action was illegal and unconstitutional.
“I therefore call on the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to discountenance the concurrence sought by the House of Representatives and direct same to re-examine the prevailing situation dispassionately with a view to finding lasting solution to the situation,” speaker Imam stated.
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