The speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Aliyu Umar Yusuf has appealed to the state government to provide succour to citizens of the state to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal by the federal government.
The speaker made this appeal in an address he delivered during the state legislature’s plenary yesterday in Lokoja.
He commended members of the Assembly for their positive response to the call to resume plenary, and expressed gratitude to the organized labour in the state for its show of understanding and mature manner with which it is conducting itself given the situation.
Yusuf charged the labour force to continue to exercise patience with the Renewed Hope mantra of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, noting that the president is not only determined to change the dynamics of Nigeria’s economy from a dependent to a productive one, but also focused on achieving a robust and sustainable economy.
The speaker further expressed appreciation to the people of the state for conducting themselves lawfully despite current discomfort, and expressed hope that the New Direction administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello would leave no stones unturned in providing succor to the people.
The majority leader of the Assembly, Hon Suleiman Abdulrazak had earlier raised a motion calling on Governor Yahaya Bello to set up a Monitoring Committee for the distribution of Federal Government Palliatives to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal.
The motion was supported by members who took turns to narrate the various categories of hardships being caused by the situation and called for urgent government intervention.
Meanwhile, The State House of Assembly has suspended the Chairman of Ibaji Local Government Area, William Iko-Ojo over allegations of misappropriation of public funds, security threat, gross misconduct and abuse of office.
The suspension of the Council Chairman is sequel to a petition written to the Assembly by Jibril Ojochenemi which was read by the House Majority Leader, Suleiman Abdulrazaq, member representing Okene Constituency.
Abdulrazaq said the petition alleged that the sum of N536, 137, 064.9k )(Five hundred and thirty-six million, one hundred and thirty-seven thousand, sixty-four naira and nine kobo), was spent as overhead cost without budget provision by the Chairman.
In his rulings, the Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Aliyu Umar Yusuf directed the Vice Chairman to take over the activities of the Local Government in an Acting capacity.
The House, however, set up a seven Man committee chaired by Deputy Speaker, Enema Paul to investigate the allegations.
“He is becoming a security threat to the place he is supposed to provide security. As a Chairman that was democratically elected, the party that the Chairman belongs to has equally petitioned his character. But all effort to see that he behaves well was not forthcoming.
“When you have a Chairman that is supposed to provide an enabling environment for people to go about their lawful business, is now seen inciting communities against each other, threaten to remove traditional rulers or install new ones before were it exist. That cannot be tolerated. The security reports against the Chairman are not favourable” the Speaker stated.
He called on the Nigeria Police, and Department of State Services, (DSS) to put the suspended Chairman on security watch to avert any breakdown of law and order.
