Posted by From BOLU-OLU ESHO, Ado-Ekiti on
Ekiti State House of Assembly has handed over its mace to the state police command. Also, some members of the House have passed a vote of no confidence in the clerk and his deputy.
Ekiti State House of Assembly has handed over its mace to the state police command. Also, some members of the House have passed a vote of no confidence in the clerk and his deputy.
This is coming on the heels of the crisis that rocked the state on Monday, in which the Speaker, Mr. Femi Bamisile, was alleged to have shot two members of Action Congress(AC) during a protest.
Hon. Funminiyi Afuye of AC told newsmen, on Tuesday that AC lawmakers decided to hand over the mace to the police after thwarting an attempt by some people to smuggle it out of the House, while the crisis raged on. He said to quell the crisis, the mace, which is the symbol of authority of the House, had to be kept out of reach of members of the House.
Afuye, however, stated, while handing over the mace to area commander, conditions the mace would be released to the House. He said all House members must agree to retrieve the mace and it must be in the presence of newsmen as when it was handed over to the police.
In his words: 'We are law abiding citizens. We didn't want to behave the way they did. We called in the Police Commissioner, Yomi Onashile, who instructed that we should hand over the mace to the area commander on ground at the time, and this was done in the presence of media men, especially, the electronic.
'We made our point that we would not allow this House to be hijacked by whatever party or the executive arm of the government because we know that all things we are witnessing, there are forces behind them. But we put our feet down and handed over the mace to the police and made it a point that whenever we want to collect it, there must be a similar ceremony and the police assured us.
'We, the House as a body, will instruct the police to return the mace to the House when we are sure there would be no crisis any longer."