The removed Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Bello, has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to save the state legislature from death.
Bello, who has the support of 12 other members of the Assembly out of 25, said what has transpired so far in the House amounts to illegality, which had the backing of the state executive led by Governor Idris Wada.
Speaking in Abuja on Thursday at a news conference, Bello, who was with the 12 other members of the Assembly, said he was going to seek judicial intervention to resolve the crisis facing the House.
He said: “All these things that are happening across the states, particularly in Kogi State, would not have been happening if not that some people around Mr. President are trying as much as possible to cause a problem for the Federation.
“The President that I know, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is a man of honour and rule of law.
“If you look at the last general election in the country, he ensured a very free and fair atmosphere for the election to be conducted.
“So there is nobody that could have used the name of Mr. President to perpetuate illegality in any part of the Federation, particularly in Kogi State.
“So I appeal to Mr. President as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces and the number one citizen of this country to rescue the Kogi State legislature from absolute annihilation by the executive arm of government in the state.
“This is because what happened in Kogi State is an executive influence and maximum force, which led to the compromise of the police.
“I therefore want to appeal to Mr. President to come to the aid of Kogi parliament because without parliament there is no democracy.
“The absence of parliament means that what we have is absolute dictatorship.
“So if any governor of a state decides to muzzle the parliament, what we have is elected sole administrator as governor of the state.
“So we want Mr. President to address this situation as a matter of urgent public importance.”
Bello raised the alarm that his life was in danger, adding: “The Commissioner of Police, at an ungodly hour of the day of Wednesday, withdrew all my security.
“You know what it means for my security to be withdrawn without informing me.
“That, to me, is an abuse of power.
“It is an affront on the constitution.
“It is against the rule of law and it is unjust.”
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