Police recover Gombe assembly mace

The police in Gombe state has recovered the mace of the state house of assembly which was stolen on Thursday.

Shina Olukolu, the state commissioner of police, said  the mace was recovered on Friday morning.

The symbol of authority was stolen during a siting to remove Ahmed Haruna, minority leader of the assembly.

It is not yet confirmed who took it away but the four lawmakers – all of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were accused of being involved in it.

Addressing journalists in Gombe, the police commissioner said those who whisked away the mace abandoned it due to the “pressure” from the police.

He said: “You will recall that yesterday, May 24, at about 1.30 p.m. the mace, the symbol of authority of Gombe state house of assembly, was taken away by an honourable member of the house in the company of others.

“The incident was allegedly occasioned by the dispute over leadership change of minority principal officers of the house.

“On receipt of the information, the commissioner of police visited the scene and heightened the security architecture already in place in the command based on the directives of the inspector-general of police.

“The pressure made them consequently to abandon the mace by the national industrial court in the state and it was recovered early on Friday.”

The instrument was subsequently handed over to Nasiru Nono, speaker of the state house of assembly.