Alleged move to impeach Delta speaker fails

The Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Monday Igbuya, narrowly escaped being impeached by his colleagues yesterday.

Frantic efforts by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to save him allegedly failed before some unexpected circumstances played in his favour.

About 2:00p.m. yesterday, the House of Assembly caucuses went into a closed-door meeting on how to save the speaker.

The plan was to replace the speaker with Eriatake Ibori, daughter of former governor James Ibori, representing Ethiope West constituency.

But Ibori, it was learnt at the Assembly complex in Asaba yesterday, condemned the development from his London prison, wondering why the lawmakers would ignore the implications.

A top member of the Assembly’s Service Commission, who does not want his name mentioned, said Ibori disagreed with the plot.

“When the idea was sold to Odidigboigbo as Ibori is fondly called by his numerous fans across the state, that his daughter was being pushed as the speaker, if Igbuya is removed, he refused to sanction it,” the source said.

According to the source, “the man prefers to play background politics for now.”

At the time of filing this report, no lawmaker was willing to speak on the issue, as the closed-door meeting was ongoing.