A mild drama unfolded today, Wednesday, at the Katsina State Government House as members of the state House of Assembly who were to hold a meeting with Governor Dikko Umar Radda walked out of the building after being asked by security details to drop their mobile phones at the reception of the main office complex, the venue of the meeting.
The high-level meeting called by the governor was a forum for the executive and legislative arms to discuss the fate of local governments following the Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy.
The lawmakers, whose entourage arrived in a coaster bus, disembarked and approached the Government House Council Chamber, but were accosted at the entrance by security details and asked to drop their phones.
After a brief altercation between the lawmakers and the security details, the legislators left the Government House furious, vowing to boycott the meeting.
A Tribune correspondent in Katsina learned that it took the intervention of the Chief of Staff Government House, Alhaji Jabiru Tsauri, and the Governor’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Alhaji Ya’u Umar Gwajo-gwajo, to woo the members to return for the meeting.
Meanwhile, the members returned and participated at the meeting where the state governor, Malam Dikko Radda, announced the state government’s position on the Supreme Court’s ruling.
He disclosed that he had set up a joint committee comprising representatives of the state executive and legislative arms as well as representatives from the local governments to advise the state government on how best to implement the Supreme Court ruling.
It will be recalled that after the Supreme Court ruled last week giving local governments full autonomy, the Federal Government immediately released the names of some states, including Katsina, whose federal allocations to local governments will be withheld from this month of July.
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