Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Imo Assembly suspends Majority Leader, removes deputy

By Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri
06 December 2017   |   12:47 am
The crisis confronting the Imo State House of Assembly has become messier with the suspension of its Majority Leader, Lugard Igwe (All Progressives Congress, APC, Owerri Municipal), for two weeks. Besides, the Deputy Majority Leader, Kennedy Ibe (Obowo Constituency), has been removed. Also, all the principal officers of the House were relieved of their appointments.…

Gov. Rochas. PHOTO: TWITTER

The crisis confronting the Imo State House of Assembly has become messier with the suspension of its Majority Leader, Lugard Igwe (All Progressives Congress, APC, Owerri Municipal), for two weeks.

Besides, the Deputy Majority Leader, Kennedy Ibe (Obowo Constituency), has been removed. Also, all the principal officers of the House were relieved of their appointments.

Speaker of the 27-member Assembly, Acho Ihim, who announced the suspension on the floor yesterday, said the action was sequel to ‘’intrigues and counter-intrigues in the House.’’

Dr. Uche Ogwuwike (Ikeduru Constituency) and Chinedu Offor (Onuimo Constituency) were announced as the new majority leader and deputy majority leader respectively.

However, the duo, Osuji and Ibe, have tendered their resignation letters, positing their reasons as ‘’collective interest of the House.’’

Chief Whip of the Assembly, Marcel Odunze (Orlu, APC), also tendered his resignation letter and was quickly replaced with Arthur Egwim, (Ideato APC)

Seventeen members of the Assembly, The Guardian gathered, allegedly boycotted the sitting/proceeding but observed from the press gallery.

Heavy presence of the security personnel at the premises of the complex led to the lawmakers to converge at the Speaker’s Lodge afterwards.

The Minority Leader (Ahiazu Mbaise Constituency), Ken Agbim, who briefed journalists at the Speaker’s lodge, chided the heavy presence of security operatives at the Assembly.

He said the action of the lawmakers was in defence of democracy.

“We needed some clarifications from the executive concerning the budget and it is clear our questions did not go down well with the executive.

‘’We believe what happened today is an attack on democracy and for the first time in a long time, we are trying to ensure our nascent democracy does not suffer,” he said.

In this article

0 Comments