Crisis erupted in Enugu State on Monday as 14 members of the state house of assembly, led by the Speaker, Hon. Eugene Odoh, commenced moves to impeach the governor, Sullivan Chime. The governor is facing impeachment barely three weeks to the end of his tenure in office.
He will complete two terms of four years on May 29, having first won election as governor of Enugu State in 2007. Also on Monday, another group of lawmakers loyal to Chime countered the impeachment move by ‘suspending’ Odoh, and electing a new Speaker. The Odoh-led lawmakers, who resolved to serve an impeachment notice on Chime at a sitting which held in the legislative chambers at 6:30am, accused the governor of gross misconduct.
It was gathered that the police had initially tried to stop the lawmakers from sitting. The 14 lawmakers specifically accused Chime of forging a N12b supplementary budget in 2012. The Clerk of the House, Mr. Christopher Chukwurah, was directed to serve the notice on Chime without any delay.
Besides moving to impeach Chime, the Odoh-led group also moved against some of the governor’s key loyalists in the assembly, including the Deputy Speaker, Chime Oji, who was recently elected to represent Enugu North/South Federal Constituency in the National Assembly. Oji, who is related to the governor, was suspended alongside Hon. Emeka Ogbuabor and Deputy House Leader, John Ukuta, for allegedly working against the interests of the House.
Following the sitting, the lawmakers removed the mace, in an apparent bid to forestall any attempt by the pro-Chime camp to counter the impeachment move. However, barely 30 minutes later, the Chime loyalists, including Deputy Speaker, Oji, Ukuta and Deputy Governor-elect, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, the running mate to the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the general elections, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, held their own sitting with a different mace.
At the sitting, the Chime-loyalists suspended Odoh and some members of his camp, including Anichukwu Nwankwo, Okechukwu Nwoke, Paul Ogbe, Nze Michael Onyeze, Chika Eneh, Theresa Egbo and the House Leader, Sunday Udo-Okoye. Odoh and the other principal officers among the suspended lawmakers were promptly stripped of their positions and benefits.
Following the ‘vacuum’ created by the suspensions, the Chime-loyalists nominated Hon. Chinedu Nwamba, the member representing Nsukka East constituency, to be sworn in as the new Speaker of the House. Also, they recalled the Chairman of the Finance and Appropriation Committee, Hon. Johnbull Nwagu, who was suspended by the House for allegedly colluding with the executive to delay the payment of the lawmakers’ overhead allowances.
Nwagu, who had been on suspension, was immediately invited to join the pro-Chime group, bringing their number to nine. As of the time of filing this report, the state government is yet to respond to the development, which is coming barely three weeks to the end of Chime’s administration.
-Punch
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