4th May, 2015
Sam Obinna Ibe/Umuahia
Sixteen members of the Enugu State House of Assembly have served the out-going Governor of Enugu State, eastern Nigeria, Barrister Sullivan Chime, impeachment notice.
The sixteen out of the 24 members of the House on Monday morning served the governor the impeachment notice alleging gross misconduct.
The governor was said to have requested for approval for him to obtain a loan of N11 billion barely three weeks to the end of his tenure, a request turned down by the Speaker of the House, Eugene Odo, and other members. Because of this refusal, nine lawmakers said to be loyal to Governor Chime were said to have threatened to impeach Odo.
However, events took a different dimension on Monday when the 16 lawmakers served the governor impeachment notice.
Stating the reasons for initiating the impeachment process said to have been signed by fifteen members as well as the Speaker, the lawmakers said the governor’s sins border on gross misconduct and other sundry impeachable offences.
The House members accused the governor of awarding a contract for water project to a private contractor without the consent of the House but which the house turned down.
The lawmakers also cited the case of N11 billion loan which the Governor said he wanted to use to complete his projects while using the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as collateral, but which they also rejected, noting that since government is a continuum, the governor-elect will continue from where Chime stopped.
This resolution was said to have been taken on the floor of the House, while the other nine members loyal to the governor were absent but usually sit separately in Enugu Hotels.
When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Chukwudi Achife told our correspondent that no such thing happened and that nobody has been served with impeachment notice.
He added that what he learnt was that the Speaker has been removed and replaced by a new Speaker, Chinedu Nwamba, representing Nsukka East State Constituency, while the leader of the House, Udo Okoye, has also been removed and replaced with Donatus Uzoagba.
Achife also revealed that Theresa Egbo, the former Chief Whip has been replaced by Emeka Ogbuabo, stressing that he learnt that the Principal Officers of the former House have been removed and replaced with the new ones and insisted tthat his boss has not been served with impeachment notice.