The Kogi Assembly Majority Leader, Murktar Bajeh (APC-Okehi), has resigned his position in protest of the terrorist tag thrown at him and eight other colleagues.
The state governor, Yahaya Bello, on 23 March called nine of the 25 assembly members terrorists for their alleged roles during the 18 March House of Assembly elections in the state.
In a letter to the speaker of the assembly, Matthew Kolawole, Mr Bello asked the assembly to suspend the nine lawmakers.
He also asked the assembly to investigate their actions during the election.
But Mr Bajeh, in a letter to the assembly, said he was stepping down from his position in protest of the disposition of the assembly and the governor.
“I hereby wish to inform this House that I am no more interested in being your leader, but have resigned forthwith,” the letter read.
The speaker, who read Mr Bajeh’s letter during plenary, asked for comments on the matter.
It was at that point that a motion was moved by the Deputy Speaker, Alfa Momoh-Rabiu, for the nomination of the chief whip, Ahmed Dahiru, to replace Mr Bajeh as the majority leader.
The speaker quickly asked the assembly to vote on the nomination of Mr Dahiru as the new majority leader to fill in the vacant position, and the members unanimously accepted Mr Dahiru as their new Majority Leader owing to his capacity and ability to do the job.
“The house having accepted the choice of Hon. Ahmed Dahiru, member representing Okene II, to fill in the gap left by Hon. Muktar Bajeh, we hereby declare him (Dahiru) our new Majority Leader from today,” the speaker said.
NAN
