The Speaker, Niger State House of Assembly, Mr. Isah Kawu, on Tuesday told the his predecessor, Mr. Adamu Usman, to stop parading himself as the Speaker of the Assembly.
Kawu also called on the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Emmanuel Amore, to order his men, who have been occupying the Assembly since last Tuesday, to vacate the complex and allow the legislators to do their job.
The speaker said the House might be forced to take undisclosed action against the Police boss and Usman, who was impeached by the Assembly two weeks ago.
Kawu, who spoke to newsmen in Minna, condemned the continued occupation of the House by the Police, which he said was a breach of the right of lawmakers to converge and carry out their duties.
He said though, the Police on Monday relaxed the siege to the House by allowing only Assembly staff into the complex, the legislators were still barred from going into the Assembly to carry out their constitutional duties.
He described the continued occupation of the police as a gag on the legislators, which he said was unacceptable, unconstitutional and a violation of the right of the lawmakers.
The speaker asked the Police Commissioner to order his men out of the Assembly complex, stressing that their (Police) presence at the gate of the Assembly was an eyesore to democracy and a disgrace to the state.
Kawu said, “We have many options which I may not want to disclose now. He (Commissioner) should know that we can sit anywhere but that is not in the good image of the state that law enforcement agents are at the gate of the Assembly, blocking members in a peace time.”
He warned Usman to stop parading himself as the House Speaker, recalling that 20 of the 25 members of the Assembly, in a duly constituted sitting, impeached him and elected a new leader.
He noted that the court order Usman claimed to have secured was belated, arguing that the injunction was given after the action had been completed.
“By the time the order was received, the (impeachment and election of a new Speaker) had been done. There arevrecords to show these. It was an order after an act,” he said.
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