The crisis in Abia state government since the conclusion of the 2023 general elections, took a turn for the unpredictable, early on Monday with the impeachment of Speaker of the House of Assembly, Chinedum Orji by his fellow lawmakers.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The crisis in Abia state government since the conclusion of the 2023 general elections, took a turn for the unpredictable, early on Monday with the impeachment of Speaker of the House of Assembly, Chinedum Orji by his fellow lawmakers.
The removal of the Speaker, which was effected early in the day, comes in the heels of a recent court order which froze the accounts of the state. It also adds to the insinuations in some quarters of disquiet in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and surreptitious moves to impeach the governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, who has less than a month to hand over the reins of power to the governor-elect, Dr. Alex Otti. The insinuations were however debunked.
There were different angles to the impeachment of Orji as well as the reasons for the action. One strand of the story stated that the removal was carried out by 16 members of the Assembly outside the house. The allegation against him was that he and his father, Senator Theodore Orji, former governor of the state, betrayed the PDP in Umuahia during the governorship election. His supporters however alleged that the legislators moved against him because he had not been brining money from the government to them.
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Our Reporter gathered that following the Speaker’s removal, security men have sealed off the Assembly complex, leaving legislators to gather in clusters within the premises.
Internal crisis in the ruling PDP is blamed for the party losing the governorship to the fledgling Labour Party (LP) in the March 18 governorship election. The impasses also saw the governor losing his senatorial ambition in the February 25 national assembly election.
The Speaker, Chinedum Orji, had earlier lost the National Assembly poll for Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency.
Orji, son of the former Governor Theodore Orji, lost to the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Obi Aguocha.
Announcing the results, the Returning Officer, Prof. Uma Oke, said that the LP candidate polled 48,199 votes to defeat Orji of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 35,196 votes.
He said that Ogbonnaya Obilor of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had 4,042 votes, while Ogbonna Abariukwu of APGA got 2,758.
He also said that Obinna Nwosu of ADC scored 2,386, while Friday Chimaobi of YPP polled 1,013 votes.
Others, including Patience Okorie of NNPP got 644 votes, Christian Ibekwe Christian of NRM got 68 votes, whereas Nnamdi Ogbuagu of APP scored 347 votes.