The political impasse in Kogi state has taken a new dimension as 17 members on Thursday impeached the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Momoh Jimoh Lawal

Other principal officers that were also impeached included the deputy speaker, Ali Akuh and the minority leader, Hassan Bello at their plenary held on the floor of the house.

The members elected Osiyi Ojo representing Ogori/Magongo state constituency as the new speaker, John Abah from Ibaji state constituency, who is also the Chairman House Committee on Information and Orientation was elected as the new deputy speaker, while Linus Enenche was elected as the new minority leader.

The members converged immediately at the press centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lokoja, the state capital where they told journalists that the three principal officers had been removed from office.

Abah, who spoke on behalf of the members, said the Speaker was impeached as he had failed to give adequate leadership to the house.
According to him they adjourned the house sitting till 16th December, 2015.

He said the motion for impeachment was moved by Henry Ukubile Ochijenu-Acharu of Idah constituency and seconded by Umar Iman of Kogi state constituency.

He said members had been tolerating the situation since the coming of the eighth assembly in the state but had to take the step in order to salvage the legislative arm of government and the entire state.

According to him, seventeen members of the assembly agreed to remove Jimoh and others when it was obvious that they lacked the capacity to lead the assembly.

He said, “Today, we seventeen members having consider the activities of the former speaker; we discovered that he is not competent; he is greedy; he is clueless and lacks administrative capacity. He cannot lead us as members of the house. He does not meet our expectations. He cannot represent us before the governor, so he stands removed”.

While speaking, the new speaker said his appointment had nothing to do with the results of the last governorship election in the state, saying the former speaker was removed because he was grossly incompetent and could not lead the house.

He said the leadership style of Jimoh had led to agitations among members with some of them resolving to impeach the governor with the belief that it was the governor that was not alive to their plight.

Ojo said, “It is unfortunate that we found ourselves in this situation. We had a speaker that is grossly incompetent, greedy and lacking in capacity to lead the house. His lack of managerial acumen has led to some members collecting signatures that they want to remove the governor.

“The development had nothing to do with the position taken by the governor-elect, the person removed is from Kogi Central. I am from Kogi Central and the governor is from Kogi Central”.