By Ishaya Ibrahim
The Imo State deputy governor, Eze Madumere, has been served with impeachment notice the same day the state’s lawmakers commenced impeachment proceedings against him.
By parliamentary procedure for impeachment, the deputy governor ought to have been given the notice of impeachment to enable him put forward his defence.
But in his case, the impeachment process was already underway when the deputy governor received the list of charges leveled against him.
According to the impeachment notice, the list of constitutional infractions allegedly committed by the deputy governor include; absence from duty for three months, failure to attend constitutionally mandated proceedings of the State Executive Council and refusal to attend constitutional mandated proceedings of the State Security Council.
Other constitutional breaches of the deputy governor, according to the impeachment notice also include; refusal to attend and to hold meetings with the Governor and Commissioners of the Government of Imo State for the governance of Imo State made compulsory by and under S.193 (2) of the 1999 Constitution and concealment of felonious conduct affecting the presentation of self as eligible candidate of Office of Deputy Governor, Imo State, having been convicted and imprisoned for theft in the United States of America.
But the deputy governor in a statement signed by Uche Onwuchekwa, his special assistant, dismissed all four breaches levelled against his boss.
On the first claim that the deputy governor absented himself from duty for three months, Onwuchekwa said the facts proved the opposite.
He said the deputy governor who is saddled with the responsibilities of superintending Boundary commission, had never been so busy, especially in resolving boundary disputes in Umuoma of Ihitte-Uboma local government, Ihube of Okigwe local government among other flashpoint communities.
“His Excellency also participated in one day retreat for Stakeholders in the management of Nigeria boundaries, which held in the Airforce Conference Center, Abuja in the company of the Surveyor General of the State and the Principal Secretary to the Deputy Governor,” the statement said.
The statement also said the allegation that the deputy governor refused to attend Constitutional mandated proceedings of the State Executive Council cannot stand any administrative scrutiny.
“There are laid down procedures through which a Deputy Governor or any member of the executive Council can be invited for Executive council meeting. We hereby state that the Deputy Governor has never been invited for such meetings through either a memo or any official notices and thereby cannot stand against the deputy governor,” Onwuchekwa said.
On the allegation that the deputy governor refused to hold meetings with the governor, Rochas Okorocha, Onwuchekwa said nothing could be more trivial.
“The Deputy Governor cannot force himself on the Governor especially when he has been tagged a pariah in the Government circle.”
We state here that Governor “Okorocha has never created such opportunity to meet with the Deputy Governor to discuss the programmes and activities of the Government other than the ones we embarrassingly hear by the road side and other sources. To this extent, where the Deputy Governor’s inputs are needed, there are right procedures through which he could be reached either through his Principal secretary and other principal officers or directly to the Deputy Governor.
“The most embarrassing among the spurious allegations is the annoying allegation of concealment of felonious conduct affecting the presentation of self as eligible candidate of office of Deputy Governor of Imo State. This is not only astonishing but an extreme show of lack of due diligence. The Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere has never been convicted of any civil matter let alone a criminal matter.
“We are pained to state that two times the Deputy Governor had to go through the pains of losing his freedom in detention were all in the course of saving Owelle Rochas Okorocha from public disgrace. He rather had to carry Okorocha’s cross and bore his shame. It will be recalled that Prince Madumere shortly after Achike Udenwa’s victory at the polls in 1999 where he had to face contempt of Court for failure to make it to the court. He was in detention in the United States for about one month all because he was delayed by Governor Okorocha. To the glory of God, Prince Madumere was acquitted of all allegations. We also challenge the members of the House of Assembly to produce the verdicts of the court that convicted Prince Madumere.
“The second time he had to stoop low so that Governor Okorocha may be spared of the humiliation of getting incarcerated was on the eve of 2011 Gubernatorial elections. Prince Madumere again yielded and was detained for almost two months on phony charges, which he has also been absolved of all charges,” the statement said.
The Imo State House of Assembly commenced impeachment process against the deputy governor on July 10, the same day he was served the impeachment notice.
The Deputy Speaker, Ugonna Ozuruigbo, who moved the motion that the impeachment process be served on the embattled deputy governor, accused him, among other things, of abandoning his duties and office as the state’s number two citizen for a long time.
The lawmaker representing Oru West LGA, Donatus Onuigwe, who opposed the impeachment proceedings, was suspended by the Speaker immediately.
The plenary, which is tension-soaked, is currently ongoing as at the time of filing this report.
Armed security men had barricaded the entry and exit points of the complex.
The Speaker, Acho Ihim, said that the petition met and surpassed the required one-third as provided for in Section 188 (2) 11 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The Assembly is made up of 27 members, but four members who were sympathetic to Madumere were, penultimate weekend, suspended for “unpaliamentary conduct,” paving way for the impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor.
A six-man committee headed by member, representing Obowo LGA, Kennedy Ibe, was set up to probe the allegations and report back to the House within seven days.
Madumere recently fell out with Rochas Okorocha over his succession plans.
While Okorocha wants his chief of staff, Uche Nwosu, to succeed him, Madumere is laying claims to the governorship position, thereby causing problems between them.
