Gunmen Invade Bayelsa Assembly Amid Pressure On Speaker To Step Down

Armed men opened fire inside the Bayelsa state house of assembly on Monday as crisis over the refusal of Emmanuel Isenah, the speaker, to step down continued.

TheCable reports that the Bayelsa speaker has been under pressure to resign following the emergence of Douye Diri as gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 16 election.

Isenah and Diri are from his Kolokuma-Opokuma local government area of the state, a development which some political pundits say could work against the PDP candidate in the election.

As of the time of filing this report, it is unclear if security personnel or supporters of the politicians were behind the gunshots.

Trouble started after Isenah, who had told reporters on Friday that he would relinquish his position, adjourned plenary indefinitely.

Suspected thugs were said to have invaded the chamber after which the mace was forcefully taken away.