Lawal presided at his own impeachment as speaker – Osiyi

Hon. Godwin Osiyi is the factional Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly. In what many referred to as a political putsch, the member representing Ogori/Magongo narrated his role in the impeachment saga rocking the House

DO we now have two Speakers in one House?

There is only one Speaker in the Kogi State House of Assembly and that speaker is Hon. Godwin Osiyi. The former Speaker was impeached legally and he can no longer preside over the business of the House.

But Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal is claiming that he was not impeached?

He is expected to reason that way but he was the one who presided over his own impeachment.

The motion for his impeachment was moved while he was still on seat and he told the mover of the motion to reel out the names of the signatories to the impeachment notice. Seventeen lawmakers signed up to impeach him and he stands impeached. A new Speaker in my humble self was elected to lead the House. I am the authentic Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly.

It was alleged by the camp of the Speaker that the mace was not in place at the time of the purported impeachment?

Kindly refer to him as the former Speaker. How could he say there was no mace when he was on seat, presiding over the business of the House? He only said that to whip up sentiments in his favour. He was impeached on the floor of the House.

The crisis seems to be assuming a dangerous dimension. Any hope of a truce?

You cannot be talking of a truce when there is no justice. We have a situation in which an impeached Speaker is moving around with thugs to attack his colleagues. Our vehicles were vandalized at Reverton Hotels where we had gone for a meeting. The cameras at the hotel captured one of his brothers to have participated in the vandalism visited on our vehicles. Huge sums of money were also carted away from our cars by thugs suspected to be acting his script. The issue shouldn’t have gotten to that extent.

It is normal and constitutional to effect change in the leadership of the legislature. In the previous Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Bello was impeached to give him (Jimoh) the chance to lead the House. Hon. Bello didn’t send thugs against those who impeached him. Why is the former Speaker going after us? We have reported all the threats to our lives to the security agencies and we are sure they will do justice to it.

Do you agree with those who say that the House crisis is directly connected to the impasse that arose from the governorship election?

It is an allegation we are not taking lightly because it portrays us as people who are not capable of acting independently. We do not need anyone outside of the chambers to tell us what we need to do. The Speaker has been inefficient and lacks the capacity and trust to continue to lead us. He has been short-changing us and his ineptitude and high-handedness has reached a point we can no longer tolerate. Those were the reasons why we removed him.

It is a common knowledge that the Speaker and the Governor-Elect, Alh. Yahaya Adoza Bello are from the same Local Government Area. Was the impeachment aimed at power balancing?

The Governor-Elect is of the All Progressives Congress while I am a member of the People’s Democratic Party.

 Agents of fairness

I don’t know what they are planning in their own party. We removed him because he lacks the capacity to lead us.

But is it normal for the governor and the Speaker to come from the same Local Government Area?

We are agents of fairness and will look at the whole possibilities when the Governor-Elect is sworn in.

Is there peace in sight?

Our own camp has never constituted any threat to the peace of the House. We are lawmakers who are ready to obey the law. We only need to appeal to desperate people who think the seat of Speakership is their birthright. We won’t sit by while some people threaten the peace of the House. Enough is enough.

Is it true that Hon. Yomi Kolawole has also been removed as the Majority Leader of the House?

Prince Kolawole remains the Majority Leader of the Kogi State House of Assembly. He has not been impeached by anyone. We are solidly behind him. Our camp is a bipartisan one with both PDP and APC legislators standing up to the ineptitude leadership in the House prior to the impeachment of my brother, Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal.

Vanguard