Failing to learn even from history that is just as old as one day in  Oyo State, where Governor Rasheed Ladoja was reinstated by a Federal Court, Anambra legislators announced a comic impeachment of Governor Peter Obi after sitting at 5am, even before the cock could crow.  

The embattled State Governor, Peter Obi, was said to have been impeached by 21 members of the State House of Assembly in the early hours of today. The impeachment took everybody unawares as the lawmakers arrived Awka from Asaba in Delta State as early as 5:00 a.m. today to carry out the impeachment at about 5.30 a.m.

The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Mike Balonwu said the probe panel instituted to investigate the allegations members of the House levelled against Gov. Obi, submitted its report last night and found Obi guilty of all the charges. Also, Hon. Okechi representing Orumba South Constituency, who read the impeachment report, said 21 members were in attendance when the governor was impeached.

But their claim as having mustered the number required by the constitution to impeach the governor was this morning disputed by the speaker of a faction of the house, Chuks Ben Nwosu. He said only twelve members of the house carried out the nocturnal impeachment, a figure that falls short of the constitutional requirement of 20 members. ''If it is allowed to survive, it is goodbye to democracy. It is criminal and illegal because they did not meet the two-third requirement'', Nwosu said today.

Many knew that the days of the governor were numbered after he was served impeachment notice last month by members of the State House of Assembly, which is dominated by People’s Democratic Party members. The governor is a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which has just one member left in the State House of Assembly. The second legislator elected on the party's platform had earlier decamped to the PDP. The move to impeach the governor came forty-eight hours after President Olusegun Obasanjo ended his state visit to Anambra, during which he bluntly told Governor Obi that he would not return to office Post-May 2007.

Sources said the legislators decided to remove Obi because they accused him of deliberately marginalising them by not taking them into confidence in the running of the affairs of the state. The legislators also accused the governor of writing a petition against them and the former governor, Chris Ngige who stole Obi’s mandate in 2003. He was also accused of fraudulently awarding contracts to his cronies. Governor Peter Obi took over from Ngige on March 17, 2006. On Monday 16, October he was served an impeachment notice by eighteen members of the State House of Assembly.

The Assembly members who sat temporarily in Asaba on Monday 16, October 2006 accused Obi of corrupt practices. Obi was alleged to have awarded a contract for the state governor’s office complex in Awka for over N100 m in favour of his friend’s company, Mr. Nwandu and also, his campaign Manager. The contract, according to the legislators, conflicts with his official duty and therefore constituted an offence. Obi was also accused of awarding the contract for the construction of the Governor’s complex without allowing for competitive bidding and unilaterally dissolving the state’s Universal Basic Education Board contrary to the ASUBE’s Law of 2005.

Other allegations levelled against Obi, include illegal purchase of 40 buses, 20 refuse disposal vans, construction of new office building for the Ministry of Lands and award of contract for community roads illegally. Gov. Obi is the second governor in Nigeria’s political history to be witch-hunted by an assembly dominated by an opposing political party. Alhaji Balarabe Musa suffered a similar fate in Kaduna State in 1981 when he was thrown out of office by NPN dominated house. He was a member of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP).


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