Mace
The Mace of the Gombe state House Assembly has been stolen during a session to remove the Minority Leader on Thursday.
The Minority Leader, Mohammed Haruna, was reported to have held a press conference on May 5 condemning the ward congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
This angered members of the party in the Assembly, which is dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and they moved to remove him. Five out of eight APC members had signed the motion for his removal.
But on Thursday, during the process for his removal, one of those who had endorsed his removal made a U-turn, saying he had been forced to endorse the motion under duress.
This led to an equal split of those for his removal and those against it. In the ensuing drama, a member of the Assembly reportedly made away with the mace aided by another lawmaker.
After the lawmaker exited the chamber with it, his accomplice held the door close to enable him to get away.
After the incident, the Majority Leader of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Fabulous Amos, said those involved in the theft of the mace had been suspended.
The Gombe state Police Command has said it is aware of the incident and plans to take appropriate action after failing to stop the lawmaker from getting away with the mace.
As stated by the police commissioner, the police are “on top of the situation” and that they will recover the mace.