Lawmakers in Enugu State House of Assembly on
Monday morning served the Governor, Sullivan Chime, impeachment notice
They
accused the Governor of high handedness and corrupt enrichment.
Reports from Enugu say that the Governor had asked the
state assembly to approve the funds for a secretariat project, but he was
turned down by the state assembly.
The lawmakers refused because according to them, it is
less than a month to hand over to a new administration; so why would the
Governor be asking for 11 billion naira within this short while.
The unapproved 11billion naira allegedly led to the power
play between members of the House of Assembly and the State Government.
The Governor then allegedly induced some members of the
assembly with some money to impeach the House Speaker, Eugene Odoh.
Fifteen lawmakers sat on Monday morning and suspended
some members who they believe are loyal to the Governor, and then collected
signatories of 15 people before serving the Governor impeachment notice.
In a
related event, few hours after news that he had been served impeachment notice
by lawmakers spread, Governor Chime expressed shock over the allegation of
forgery brought against him by the lawmakers.
He said the action of the lawmakers was malicious and
would never see the light of day.
The governor took time to explain his activities in the
service of the state and restated that he had not stolen the state’s fund and
would not be daft to broach the subject of borrowing 11 billion Naira almost at
the completion of his tenure.
According to the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor,
the accusation levelled against the Mr. Chime was unfounded and intended to
diminish the person of the Governor who by all standard had done creditably
well for the state.
He said the factional House, led by Eugene Odoh, was
merely struggling to justify their irrational action by spinning lies against
the governor.
Fifteen out of 24 members of the Enugu State House of
Assembly had earlier on Monday commenced an impeachment process, putting
forward allegations of forgery, inflation of funds for state project execution
and unlawful acquisition of public landed property.
The process took a different turn when eight members of
the House loyal to the Governor sat, impeached the Speaker, Honourable Eugene
Odoh, and shot down the House indefinitely.
Despite the impeachment by the few members of the House,
the ‘impeached Speaker’, Honourable Eugene Odoh, said the lawmakers would
continue with the impeachment process on Tuesday, insisting that the Governor
had been duly served.
But the factional ‘new Speaker’, Honourable Chinedu
Nwamba, said the activities of the other faction was null and void, “as the
Speaker, Eugene Odoh had been removed, with himself emerging the new speaker.”
He also said that the 11 billion Naira loan issue raised
by Mr. Oboh had long been done with and did not in any way tantamount to an
impeachable offence.
Mr. Odoh, however, said the ‘purported impeachment’ was
impunity in the face of democracy, which had diminished the Enugu State House
of Assembly as well as the Executive arm of government.
He had stated that the last straw was the House’s
rejection to approve the 11 billion Naira loan, which the governor forwarded to
the House on grounds that it was not morally wise and would be a burden on the
incoming government, as the loan would be paid under Irrevocable Standing
Payment order within three years.
Giving credence to the emergence of a ‘new speaker’ in
the face of the present circumstance, the Deputy Leader of the House of
Assembly and Chairman House Committee on Information, said “once the House
becomes dissatisfied with the performance of a house officer, it required the
majority members of the House to remove such an officer.”
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