Police recover House of Assembly mace stolen by lawmaker

The Gombe State Police Command has recovered the mace of the states House of Assembly that was

When an attempt by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House to impeach the Minority Leader, Mohammed Haruna, failed on Thursday, May 24, 2018, Abdullahi Abubakar (Akko West) seized the mace, the House's symbol of authority, and fled from the chamber with the help of Mohammed Bello (Gombe South) who allegedly held down the Sergeant-at-Arms.

While addressing the press on Friday, May 25, the state's Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu disclosed that the mace was recovered around National Industrial Court in the state capital where it was abandoned.

He announced, "You will recall that yesterday, May 24, at about 1.30 p.m. the mace, the symbol of authority of Gombe state House of Assembly, was taken away by an honourable member of the house in the company of others.

"The incident was allegedly occasioned by the dispute over leadership change of minority principal officers of the house.

"On receipt of the information, the Commissioner of Police visited the scene and heightened the security architecture already in place in the command based on the directives of the Inspector-General of Police.

"The pressure made them consequently to abandon the mace by the National Industrial Court in the state and it was recovered early on Friday."

The stolen mace has been returned to the Assembly complex where it was stolen as House Speaker, Hon. Nasiru Abubakar Nono, expressed his gratitude for the efforts of the state's security agencies to recover the mace.

After the theft on Thursday, lawmakers reconvened with a spare mace and resolved to suspend four members of the APC for four legislative days for their alleged involvement. The suspended members are Abubakar, Bello, Ibrahim Abdullahi and Walid Mohammed.

Theft of Senate's mace

The incident in Gombe is similar to the invasion of the National Assembly complex on April 18, 2018, which witnessed the theft of the mace of the upper legislative chamber by unknown hoodlums who allegedly did so on behalf of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who reportedly led them into the chamber just a week after he was suspended.

The mace was later recovered by the police on April 19 after it was found by a passer-by under the flyover before the City Gate in Abuja where the hoodlums abandoned it.