The Abia State House of Assembly has suspended its Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Uchendu and seven other members for masterminding the failed impeachment plot against its Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji.
Moving the motion for their suspension, the Member representing Umuahia South Constituency, Hon. Jerry Uzosike, lamented that the actions of the affected members had brought disrepute to the Assembly.
He wondered how Members of the House could allow themselves to condescend so low as to drag them to a residence outside the Assembly complex to perpetrate the impeachment plot, saying they deserve nothing but suspension.
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Supporting the motion, the Member representing Isiala Ngwa North State Constituency and Member-elect of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Ginger Onwusibe, decried the low level governance that the House has been dragged following the alleged sponsorship of the impeachment plot by a Special Adviser to the governor just to achieve selfish purposes.
While contributing to the motion, Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Solomon Akpulonu, observed that some members purported to have signed the impeachment notice were away outside the country and wondered how the plotters were able to get their signatures if not that they were forged. He also pointed at some members who were said to have signed the notice but were in the plenary with the Speaker. He therefore urged the House to consider suspending only those who were physically present at what he called the ‘impeachment charade’.
When the motion was put up for vote by Hon. Orji who presided over the Plenary, members present voted overwhelmingly for the suspension of those who participated in the impeachment plot. The suspension which is for one month also included the suspension of all benefits to the affected members.
While addressing the House, the Speaker, warned that his peaceful mien must not be taken for granted and that the great respect he has for the Office of the Governor should not be taken advantage of.
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“That I’ve been quiet in this State does not mean that I have lost my voice. I respect that Office (Governor) so much that it has made me to be quiet because I do not want to be judged harshly as being a stumbling block to the running of the state by the incumbent Governor.
“I have endured a lot of humiliations, insults, not necessarily from the Governor but from those that now feel that they are either the governor or the assistant governor of this state. And I now say that from today, enough has to be enough!”
Those suspended lawmakers were Rt Hon Ifeanyi Uchendu (Ohafua South), Rt Hon Kennedy Njoku (Osisioma North), Rt Hon Chikwendu Kalu (Isiala Ngwa South), Chukwudi Apugo (Umuahia East), Aaron Uzodike (Aba North), Thomas Nkoro (Obingwa West), Okey Igwe (Umunneochi), Obinna Ichita (Aba South), Chijioke Chukwu (Bende North).
Meanwhile, the Abia State House of Assembly today elected a new Deputy Speaker, Hon Egwuronu Mandela Obasi (Ohafia North) as its new Deputy Speaker. He replaces the suspended Ifeanyi Uchendu.
