Gov. Martin Elechi
Nine members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly have thrown their weight behind the embattled Governor of the State, Martin Elechi, describing the moves by their colleagues to remove the Governor from office.
The nine legislators, who are loyal to Elechi said that the House did not constitute two-third majority as required by the constitution to impeach the governor.
They said that 15 members out of 24 members of the House that signed the impeachment notice against the governor was not two-third of the House but only 16 members that can constitute two-third majority of the House.
The spokesperson of the nine Assembly members in support of Governor Elechi, Hon Eni Uduma Chima while briefing journalists in Abakaliki at the weekend said that whatever move the 15 members had made over the purported impeachment of the governor was unconstitutional and will not yield any fruit.
According to him, “our attention has been drawn to the business of the ‘House’ of Friday, 27th day of February 2015 wherein a motion for a resolution that a notice of allegations of gross misconduct purportedly made against by fifteen members of the twenty-four member House”.
“That the said resolution was purportedly passed in clear contravention of Section 188 (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As amended) which provides that; a motion of the House of Assembly that the allegation be investigated shall not be declared as having been passed unless it is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of the House of Assembly.
“That fifteen members cannot be the “two-thirds majority of all the members” of a twenty-four member House”, he stated.
Eni alleged that every desperate attempt and overtures were being made to induce and intimidate the nine lawmakers into yielding, against the demand of justice and good conscience, to the plot for the impeachment of the Governor, stressing that they resolved that none of members (nine) shall attempt to go to the House of Assembly complex to forestall breakdown of law and order and to ensure the security of the lives of our people.
He also alleged that the Speaker, Nwazunku and his cohorts had taken the attendance register of the House of Assembly to their principals in Abuja for the purpose of cloning the signatures of members of their faction.
“We cannot, in this life and forever, sign or attempt to sign any document seeking to remove from the office the Governor. We shall not even attend any sitting of the House for now, to avoid being forced at gun point to sign anything. We know as a matter of indestructible fact that “nearly does not kill a bird” even though the hunter may claim that it makes him happy”, he noted.
On the vacation of six lawmaker’s seats, he said that the matter was before the Federal High Court in Abakaliki, wherein they are seeking among other reliefs for an injunction restraining the defendants, the Speaker from declaring their seats vacant.
“The speaker Hon. Chukwuma Nwazunku, Ebonyi State House of Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission being parties to the suit, were duly served with the originating processes and are represented in the matter. Instead of waiting on the court, Mr. Nwazunku and his cohorts preferred to vacate seats of Honourable members and sought to justify the purported vacation through paid Radio and Newspaper commentaries”.
He however called on the Civil Society Organizations, Religious Groups, Democratic Institutions, Law Enforcement Agencies and Professional Bodies, especially the Nigerian Bar Association to make conscious efforts to ensure that the constitution and the laws of the country were upheld at all times and by all and sundry.
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