Features

Imo House Of Assembly: Show Of Shame!

FROM EVEREST EZIHE, Owerri

Last Thursday, the Imo state House of Assembly which for months now have been sitting at Ikemba Ojukwu Centre, New Owerri as a temporary Assembly Complex witnessed uproar as the lawmakers embarked on show of shame  after the Speaker,  Rt. Hon.Paul Emezim, suspended the minority leader, Anyadike Nwosu, and five other lawmakers for what he described as”unparliamentary conducts” .

The speaker in an emergency plenary which held under a tight security, suspended the lawmakers indefinitely for what he called ” unparliamentary conducts” according to an eye witness Miss Onyinyechi Amakulo, a Journalist attached to the House of Assembly.

 It’s observed that apart from the Minority Leader, who is of the Peoples Democratic Party, other lawmakers suspended by the speaker were, the immediate past Majority Leader, Uche Ogbuagu,(Ikeduru, APC), Onyemaechi Njoku(Ihitte- Uboma, APC), Kennedy Ibeh,(Obowo, APC), Philip Ejiogu,( Owerri North, PDP) and Dominic Ezerioha (Oru West, APC).

Emezim, also dissolved all standing committees of the House and removed the Chief Whip of the House, Arthur Egwim, ( Ideato North, APC) and replaced him with Obinna Okwara ( Nkwerre, APC).

The development caused panic in the complex as the security aides to the speaker had to shoot into the air and guard the Speaker who most members threatened for physical assaults, for him to make his way out of the premises, amidst protests and vitriolic.

Our correspondent was told by one of the suspended lawmakers, Ibeh, that ” “we got a message today from the Clerk of the House that there would be an emergency meeting today( Thursday) having on Wednesday adjourned till July 14.

“We got to the complex by 10 am but we didn’t see the Speaker. We kept waiting until when the Speaker came and we moved into the chambers and signed the attendance register. The Speaker immediately without recourse to the rules of the House announced the dissolution of all standing committees of the House and removed the Chief Whip of the House and announced, Hon. Obinna Okwara as  his replacement.

” The speaker said that the decision was taken at the Executive Session of the House, whereas there was no Executive session. A lawmaker, Hon.Onyemaechi Njoku, stood up on the special privileges rule of the House, but the Speaker shouted him down. I also rose to talk but he didn’t allow me to talk.

” He abandoned the rules of the House and imported his own rule in aberration. Other lawmakers raised concerns but the Speaker didn’t care. At the end, he announced that he had suspended the six of us for unparliamentary conducts.

“I don’t know what that means because he even suspended somebody, Philip Ejiogu and two others who were not present at the plenary for unparliamentary conducts. I don’t know what that means.”

Asked what his next line of action was, Ibeh said “talking about political resolution, I am a member of the APC and the Governor is the leader of the party in the state.

” I will wait for an opportunity to have that opportunity with the Governor so that I will tell my own side of the story, but talking about legal redress that is not within my consideration for now. I have suffered many political persecutions in the parliament so I have taken it as one of those persecutions.

One of the media aides to the Speaker, Mr. Collins Osuji, told our correspondent that the suspension was indefinite.

But our correspondent was told by one of the lawmakers that the “sudden and undemocratic” suspension of the six lawmakers may not be unconnected to their disenchantment on how the finances of the third tier of government in the state were being run.

Our correspondent was told that the lawmaker had recently complained on their whatsapp platform that they had yet to receive some of their entitlements and demanded to have interface with the State Governor, a request the leadership of the House allegedly refused.

Some of the lawmakers had reportedly raised dissentient that they are yet to receive monies for their house rents, the topic was said to have been escalated on the what app platform which caused serious misunderstanding and mistrust.

Another impeccable source told this reporter that the suspended lawmakers were allegedly having a nocturnal meeting with opposition camps and Governor Hope Uzodimma having access to the information allegedly instigated the Speaker to do the needful so as to puncture their alleged ill-conceived plans.

Related Posts

Leave a Comment

This News Site uses cookies to improve reading experience. We assume this is OK but if not, please do opt-out. Accept Read More