The Enugu State House of Assembly which had been seemingly docile, suddenly at the twilight of the present administration woke from its slumber accusing the executive arm of gross misconduct.
By Francis Igata
THE House has suddenly turned its searchlight on the activities of Governor Sullivan Chime’s administration, raising questions over what could have informed its decision at this time.
Attempt by Chime’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Chukwudi Achife to hinge the move on the inability of the Speaker of the House, Mr. Eugene Odoh, to realise his governorship ambition, was dismissed as misleading by observers.
Odoh is believed to have had a healthy working relationship with Chime, resulting in his tactful handling of the leadership crisis that trailed the governor’s protracted absence from office in 2013.
•Chime: Embattled governor
Resisting a groundswell of pressure to work against the governor was construed as a favour, which was likely to be reciprocated with the governorship ticket which was zoned to Enugu-North Senatorial District where Odoh hails from.
However, the emergence of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in December 2014, set the stage for the deteriorated relationship between Chime and the House.
But the House is not seeing its latest move as being vindictive but rather the need for probity among all arms of government it claimed to have motivated its decision.
So far, the current efforts appear to have uncovered series of financial malfeasances allegedly committed by the executive.
Loan saga
Vanguard learned that the House is also saddened by the governor’s desperate bid to secure an Irrevocable Standing Order Loan, ISOL, when the state’s debt profile stood at over N40.8 billion.
The House had hurriedly rejected the request wondering why an administration that has barely four week to go would want to obtain a loan of N11 billion.
It further regretted that the loan of N5.2 billion Chime took from World bank for the financing of water reticulation in the state was not judiciously used.
Speaking on the matter, a lawmaker representing Udenu Constituency, Mr. Ikechukwu Ezugwu, said,” Governor Chime took this loan of N5.2 billion and has not started paying back. He jettisoned the pipes they laid having found out that their efforts to supply water is futile and went to concession the Water Corporation.”
On his part, Mr. Michael Onyeze, who represents Igbo-Eze North constituency said,”The governor’s annoyance is that we threw away his bid to get us approve an Irrevocable Standing Order Loan of six months for him.
Withholding of salaries
That is why he has withheld our salaries. With the ISOL of six months,it will mean that we will have two governors. Chime and Ugwuanyi. Chime will be issuing his own cheque from his house for six months while Ugwuanyi will be issuing his from Government House.”
ENSUBEB: Faced with these alleged anomalies, the House was left with no option than to take some measures.
Odoh: Embattled Speaker
One of such responses was the freezing of all accounts of the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board, ENSUBEB, over alleged financial recklessness by the its Chairman, Miss Nneka Onuorah.
It consequently urged the Economic Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, to quickly investigate the activities of the board and called on the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, to stop further dealings with ENSUBEB.
The position of the House was sequel to a petition brought before it by two members of ENSUBEB, who accused the chairman of financial recklessness.
It also commenced investigation into a N3.6 billion contract awarded by ENSUBEB.
Accountant General’s arrest: The State Accountant General, Pascal Okolie, who had refused to appear before the House was also ordered to be arrested.
Okolie was asked to furnish the House with detailed documents of recurrent and capital expenditures of the executive from last year.
The House, again, reiterated its resolution urging the executive to stop the sale of land in the following places: International Conference Centre, ICC; old Eastern Nigeria Industrial Centre situated at Zik Avenue; the Land adjacent to the Assembly Complex and Enugu Water Corporation.
Fiscal irresponsibility
The House is not the only stakeholder that thinks the governor has not judiciously managed the affairs of the state. The state All Progressives Congress, APC, Chairman Mr. Ben Nwoye, said: “The governor has shown fiscal irresponsibility from the day he took office. He is leaving the state worse off financially than he inherited. Chime administration’s penchant for borrowing without approval will drown whatever efforts that is geared towards developing the state. His successor will end up borrowing to service these loans especially now that there is a decline in oil revenue.
“The last minute efforts by the House to question his financial recklessness though belated is worthy. We will rise up against this impunity from May 29 when his immunity will cease to exist.”
House moves to impeach Chime
Undaunted the House of presided over by Speaker, Eugene Odoh, sat yesterday with 13 other members at about 5.30am at the assembly complex and ordered the Clerk, Mr. Christopher Chukwurah to immediately serve the Governor Chime an impeachment notice over financial misconduct.
At the sitting the House also suspended its Deputy Speaker, Chime Oji,Deputy House Leader, John Ukuta and Chinedu Nwamba. This is apart from Johnbull Nwagu that had been suspended last month.
Quorum for impeachment
Following the suspension of four of its members in a 24 member House,the two-third quorum prescribed by the constitution for the impeachment was achieved.
Deputy Speaker forms splinter group
Deputy Speaker,Chime Oji,presided over a parallel siting later in the assembly complex with eight other members where it suspended the Speaker, Eugene Odoh,House Leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye and others.
The sitting also met the quorum, which is one-third of the members.
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