Lawmakers climb fence to enter Assembly complex to avoid Police officers

Members of Benue State House of Assembly resorted to scaling the perimeter fence surrounding the Assembly complex to access the premises in a bid to avoid police officers on Friday, July 27, 2018.

Officers of the Nigeria Police Force had taken over the premises of the Assembly on Friday to prevent two factional groups of lawmakers in the House from conducting legislative business. The officers locked the main entrance to the building.

The chaos in the House was due to the recent impeachment of Hon. Terkimbi Ikyange as Speaker of the House and election of Hon. Titus Abua as his replacement.

After they were prevented from gaining entry into the complex to hold their meetings on Friday, the lawmakers refused to heed the directive of the police and resorted to scaling the fence.

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After discovering that the legislative chamber was also locked by the police, the lawmakers were forced to relocate the day's legislative plenary to the Government House Banquet Hall.

During the day's session, the impeached Hon. Ikyange was suspended for six months for "unparliamentary behavior" as he kept insisting in public that he was still Speaker, ruling his impeachment an illegality as the right procedure was not followed in the impeachment process.

Ikyange, representing Ushongo state constituency, had previously been impeached for alleged high-handedness and failure to carry the members along in the activities of the House.