Abia Speaker impeached

The Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike, was on Thursday, impeached by House.
This was following a motion moved by the deputy Majority Leader and member representing Obingwa East in house, Solomon Akpulonu, after reading the impeachment notice which was signed by 20 of the 24 members of the state red chamber.
According to Hon. Akpulonu, the 20 signatories has confirmed the 2/3 majority needed for the impeachment, citing section 92 (2c) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended to be relevant in the impeachment context.
Listing Rt. Hon. Azubuike’s offence, Hon. Akpulonu said they include gross misconduct, lack of character accountability and transparency in handling public funds, insensitivity to the plight of the members of the House, abuse of office and financial recklessness.
The impeachment was concluded in 15 minutes’ time.
Speaking at the red chamber, the Deputy Speaker, Cosmas Ndukwe who presided over the House said that following the impeachment, Martins Azubuike seizes to be the Speaker of the Abia 6th House of Assembly.
Conducting that nomination, the Clerk of the House, John Pedro Irokansi said following the removal of the Speaker, the constitution does not permit acting Speaker, hence the need to replace him.
Two members were nominated and they were the member representing Isialangwa South, Chikwendu Kalu and Kennedy Njoku, member representing Osisioma North state constituencies.
Of the 20 members that were present, 16 voted for Bishop Kennedy Njoku, 3 voted for Chikwendu Kalu and one person absented form voting.
Speaking to journalists after, the mover of the motion, Hon. Akpulonu said that they have on occasions advised the former speaker on some the allegations but he never listened to them.
Bishop Kennedy Njoku was immediately sworn in as the new Speaker of the state House of Assembly.
Speaking with newsmen later, the new Speaker, Bishop Kennedy Njoku thanked God for imposing such confidence on him, stating that the function of to make laws, assuring of quality laws.
Njoku gave an assurance that the house under his leadership would ensure that the house would continue to make laws for the good governance of the state, stating that the task ahead of the house was challenging and that he appreciated the circumstances surrounding his emergence.
He promised to give every member a sense of belonging, adding that he would endeavour to avoid the pitfalls that swept off his predecessor, informing newsmen that all efforts made to persuade Azubuike to change his autocratic leadership style failed, hence the decision to impeach him.
“He failed to ensure equitable distribution of positions and powers among members, he was insensitive to the rights and needs of members and general staff of the assembly, his autocratic practice has brought the assembly on collision course with other arms of government and agencies of the state government, he has abused the office of the speaker by using same for personal and private political interest and therefore, pursuant to section 92 (2c) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, we the members of the house resolve to remove and hereby remove Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike as speaker.”
He re-iterated that the former Speaker spends money as if it belongs to him.
All efforts by newsmen to reach the impeached speaker proved abortive as he was even not seen in his official residence at Okpara Avenue, Umuahia.
According to a house functionary who spoke on condition of anonymity, being aware of his impeachment moves earlier in the week, Martins Azubuike who was absent at the emergency plenary session that threw him out, was said to have carried away the House mace with him to forestall his impeachment.
However, the source said that the pro-impeachment members were prepared as they had acquired a spare mace with which the impeachment was carried out, stating that the act was legal and appropriate.
According to another source, the member representing Isialangwa South, Chikwendu Kalu, was even the governor’s choice, but when other members saw that Hon. Kalu himself voted for Hon. Njoku, the rest of the members of the House who were to favour the governor by voting for his candidate backed out, except three other functionaries of the House loyal to Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu who still gave him the three votes he garnered.
Earlier on Monday, the embattled Speaker, Martins Azubuike, confirmed of the intense plot by his fellow lawmakers to impeach him, dismissing it was no longer a rumour, while his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Clinton Uba, who spoke for his principal, said that the impeachment move has been noticed hence it was no longer being regarded as a product of the ever busy rumour mills.
“We are aware of the plot, it is no longer a rumour,” Uba said.
Uba, who said that though the impeachment plot was real, noted that the Speaker has not been served with any notice of impeachment and no document containing any allegation of impeachable offence
A source close to the Abia House of Assembly said that the group plotting the Speaker’s ousting has already collected more than enough signatures of lawmakers in the 24-member to effect the planned removal, adding that ant-Speaker signatories cut across party affiliation.
The former speaker who had earlier called journalists to say his side of the story late called off the briefing.
Signs of trouble in the House showed in the morning when unusual presence of police men were noticed at the gate and premises of the House.
Before the impeachment, members had met for over two hours trying to resolve the matter by trying to extract agreement from the former speaker that he would not preside in a scheduled sitting of the House today.
It was learned that members wanted to give him a soft landing until he attempted to take away the Mace, an action that annoyed the members who there and then decided to go ahead with the impeachment.
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dominates the Abia House with 15 lawmakers while the main opposition All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA has 9.
Deputy Speaker, Rt Hon Cosmos Ndukwe, who had dismissed earlier impeachment plot by members, said that he was not aware of the current plot but added that he would not deny that there is need for change in the House, stating that Abia legislature has the right to impeach its leadership if need be.
However, the spokesman of the Speaker, said that his principal was not taking the matter lightly and was already “reaching out” to his fellow lawmakers and other stake holders in the stake to find out what has gone wrong to warrant the impeachment move.
“There is still a window of opportunity to resolve the issue,” he concluded.
Effort made to get Azubuike’s reaction on his removal was unsuccessful as he was said to have left shortly before newsmen arrived at his official lodge on Okpara Avenue, Umuahia.