Impeachment process against me null and void, says Chime

The Enugu state government says it is unaware of the impeachment process instituted against Sullivan Chime, governor of the state, by a 15-man faction of the state’s house of assembly.

Chukwudi Achife, chief press secretary to the governor, said this in a telephone interview with NAN from Enugu on Monday.

Achife described the action of the faction of the assembly led by Eugene Odo, the speaker, as “null and void”.

He said the state government was still trying to come to terms with the realities of a change in the leadership of the house.

“What we should be talking about is the new leadership of the house of assembly and not what the old one did,” he said.

“The process is perpetrated by those leaving the government on May 29 and that is why they are furious. No impeachment notice has been served on the governor; we must get that straight.”

Odo and 14 other members of the assembly sat in the early hours of Monday to commence impeachment proceedings against Chime.

Shortly after their sitting, another faction led by Chime Oji, the deputy speaker, and eight others, also met at the assembly and impeached the speaker, electing Chinedu Nwamba, representing Nsukka East constituency as the new speaker.

Meanwhile, Odo has described his purported impeachment as legislative recklessness and impunity.

He said he remains the speaker of the assembly.

“The status quo remains, I am still the speaker. It is only two-thirds of the 24 lawmakers that can impeach or suspend the speaker and only eight of them cannot suspend or impeach the speaker,” he said.

“It is true that they formed a quorum but a quorum cannot impeach the speaker.”

He said he was being persecuted for not signing a forged supplementary appropriation for 2012, which the governor allegedly wanted him and the clerk of the assembly to sign in 2015.

Odo claimed that the document had no records in the proceedings of the assembly.

The speaker said that the crisis started when the lawmakers declined to sign the N11 billion loan sought by the governor less than 60 days to the end of his tenure.

“The governor surreptitiously called some members and gave them N2 million each to impeach the speaker,” he said.

The speaker said that the assembly would resume its plenary session on Tuesday.