The Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon. Imam Umar Ahmed has resigned his position following Tuesday’s invasion of the Assembly chambers by suspected political thugs.

Ahmed’s resignation letter which was read by the Deputy Speaker, Hassan Abdullahi who presided over the plenary is coming exactly a week after the House members passed a vote of confidence on him.

In the letter dated August 3, Ahmed said his decision to relinquish his position was to avoid throwing the state into another round of political crisis as well as to save his life which has been under numerous death threats.

The plenary which was attended by 20 out of the 25 lawmakers in the state assembly also saw the unopposed election of Kolawole Matthew as his replacement while former Chief Whip, Hassan Bello and Wale Omofaiye were elected as Majority Leader and new Chief Whip respectively.

In his acceptance speech, the newly elected Speaker expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the House members for the confidence reposed in him and pledged not to rest on his oars in taking the assembly to enviable heights in the nearest future.