No plan for leadership change, Imo Assembly clarifies

The 27-member Imo State House of Assembly yesterday dismissed media reports that its speaker, Dr. Chiji Collins, was on the verge of impeachment.

The social and regular media platforms had last week being inundated by reports of some aggrieved members allegedly planning to unseat the speaker.

Speaking on a live programme in Owerri, the House Committee Chairman on Information and Judiciary, Ugochukwu Dominic Ezerioha (PDP: Oru West), explained that Collins had creditably piloted the affairs of the legislature in the last 62 days prior to their procession on recess, advising that the speculations be discountenanced.

According to him, the House has a cordial relationship with the leadership and Governor Emeka Ihedioha, stating that the legislative body was peopled by 20 PDP members while the Action Alliance (AA) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) share the rest seven lawmakers.

He disclosed that the ninth assembly had passed four bills and 32 motions out of the 42 moved during the 62 days it sat.

“We do not have any member that is against the speaker. We have 20 PDP members and seven APGA and AA members,” he submitted.

Meanwhile, sellers of petroleum products in the state under the aegis of Association of Petroleum Marketers and Dealers, Owerri, have decried the numerous suits by government officials against them at the revenue courts.

Chairman of the group, Chidiebere Okafor, stated this yesterday during a courtesy visit to Deputy Governor Gerald Irona in Owerri.

Okafor, who led other members of the association, warned that the development was scaring investors away from the state, urging Governor Emeka Ihedioha to urgently address the problem.

He appealed for the governor’s intervention in ensuring a regime of harmonised levies for his members.

Okafor sought an out -of court settlement, promising that the body would drive home the philosophy of the Emeka Ihedioha administration in the state.

Responding, the deputy governor assured his visitors of the readiness of the current government to provide an enabling environment for investors and other stakeholders to do business in the state.

He pledged to intercede on behalf of the petroleum marketers.