KOTA KINABALU, July 30 — Former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman and his entourage were barred from entering the palace here today.

The group, believed to consist of Musa and the 32 other assemblymen supporting him, told reporters in a WhatsApp group at about 3.30pm that they were heading to the Istana Negeri but at 4pm were stopped by the police at a roadblock set up before the main road leading to the palace.

"The YB entourage were stopped from going to the Istana,” said the spokesman in the group.

Over 10 vehicles were seen lined up at the Bukit Nenas roundabout trying to enter Jalan Istana, bringing traffic to a standstill in one lane for more than an hour.

It is believed that the group were going to plead their case to form a government with a simple majority.

Musa had told reporters earlier that he would try to meet the Head of State Yang diPertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin to appeal for a reversal of the dissolution of the state assembly.

Musa had claimed he had 33 state assemblymen, including himself, out of 65 members of the state assembly supporting him, which qualifies him to be appointed chief minister and head a new government.

To achieve the simple majority, 13 state assemblymen from the Warisan-led government had to defect and support Musa, while withdrawing their support for Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.