Some members of the Plateau State House of Assembly have accused the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Bartholomew Onyeka of taking sides in the ongoing crisis rocking the State Assembly.
This is as OsunDaily News gathered that lawmakers of the Plateau State House of Assembly on Tuesday shunned the meeting between them and the CP.
According to the lawmaker representing Riyom state constituency, Timothy Dantong, he and his colleagues refused to attend the meeting arranged by the CP because they believe he has taken sides.
He alleged that the Plateau CP was not neutral in the leadership crisis between the two factions in the house.
Dantong told The Punch that “The Commissioner of Police asked us that if we (Abok Ayuba group) claim to be in the majority in the House and if we wanted the Assembly complex to be opened for us to continue with our legislative business, that we should write our names and sign, which we did. Out of 22 persons (lawmakers) that attended that meeting,15 of them were on our side and signed.
“But when the Commissioner of Police saw the list, he changed his mind. So, we believe he has taken sides because since he came to Plateau State he has continued to take actions against the interest of the people. They brought him to Plateau because of the problem we are having in the Assembly and his first assignment was to have a meeting with us when Abok Ayuba was illegally impeached in 2021 he said to us that he was not going to allow any of the factions use the Assembly until the leadership crisis was resolved. But surprisingly, he turned around and opened the Assembly for the other group to use.
“Now, he has again sealed the Assembly even when a court has reinstated Ayuba as the Speaker of the state Assembly. We want Plateau people to know that the Commissioner of Police in the state has taken sides in the state Assembly dispute and he is working against the democratic practice in Plateau.”
However, the CP expressed disappointment yesterday at the failure of the lawmakers to show up for the peace meeting to resolve the crisis.
It would be recalled that OsunDaily News reported last week Wednesday that the Plateau State House of Assembly complex was sealed by the state police command due to the ongoing speakership crisis.
It was learnt that anti-riot policemen arrived at the assembly complex at about 5 am on Wednesday and sealed the main entrance.
This is coming after a Plateau High Court on Monday reinstated Nuhu Abok as the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
Drama had played out on Tuesday when the reinstated speaker resumed only to find his office locked.
Even though he eventually had access to his office, some of his loyalists and those of the current speaker Yakubu Sanda, almost had a clash over Abok’s return.
But the CP told pressmen that he summoned a meeting with the lawmakers so as to find an amicable solution to the impasse to prevent further breakdown of law and order, but they refused to show up at the scheduled to take place at the police command headquarters in Jos Tuesday.
The Cp noted that “Today (Tuesday), we all agreed that we would meet here in continuation of the previous discussion we have had, but to my greatest surprise, only two or three people (lawmakers) came. We don’t know where the rest have gone.
“Nobody should be allowed to trespass into the state House of Assembly because information as to threats is still mounting on a daily basis. Today, we are receiving information that this will happen; and that will happen. So, it will be out of place to withdraw police from there.”
