Free-for-all in Jigawa Assembly as policemen take over

ARMED anti-riot police operatives have taken Jigawa state House of Assembly, forcing lawmakers to adjourn sitting after a rowdy session over attempts to amend the House Standing rule‎.

Trouble started when Speaker Isa Idris announced an agenda in the Assembly’s order paper for amending the House Standing rule that stipulates that any principal officers that had been impeached cannot vie for the position again in subsequent Assemblies.

The proposed amended rule will also disqualify all impeached Speakers, Deputy Speakers, Majority and Minority leaders and Chief Whips that had been impeached from re-contesting for the positions again.

The proposed rule was met with stiff resistance by some members.

They were purportedly nursing the desire to return a former Speaker impeached three years ago.

The member representing ‎Yankwashi State Constituency Abdulrahman Alkassim led the crusade by opposing the proposed amendment, which also supported by a vast majority of the members.

The opposing members were also challenged by other members that wanted the amendment, which may in the end scheme out a former member impeached from re-contesting for the speakership position.

Findings by our reporter indicate that there has been an underground movement by some members to impeach Speaker Idris and replace him with the impeached former speaker Alhaji Idris Garba.

The move, which was alleged to have the support of the Governor, came at a time that some members felt the present Speaker has reduced himself to a ‘mere’ boy of the executives.

The crisis snowballed to exchange of abusive words hauled at members, which resulted to a physical fights that later led to the destruction of the Assembly maze into three parts.

As at the time of filling this report, journalists were ushered out of the Assembly by the security operatives, barring them from taking pictures and interviewing any of the members.