Plot To Impeach Elechi Suffers Setback As 9 Lawmakers Stand Behind Embattled Gov

Nine members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly loyal to embattled Governor Martin Elechi, yesterday said the House did not constitute two-thirds majority as re­quired by the constitution to impeach the governor.

They noted that 15 of the 24 members of the Assembly that signed the impeachment notice against the governor did not constitute two-thirds of the House, which accord­ing to them requires 16 mem­bers.

Spokesperson of the nine pro-Elechi Assembly members, Eni Uduma Chima, while brief­ing journalists at the week­end, said whatever move the 15 members had made over the purported impeachment of the governor, was not con­stitutional and would not yield any fruit.

He said: “Our atten­tion has been drawn to the business of the ‘House’ of Friday, February 27, 2015, wherein a motion for a reso­lution that a notice of allega­tions of gross misconduct purportedly made against the governor by 15 mem­bers of the 24 member of the House.

“That the said resolution mentioned in the immedi­ate preceding paragraph was purportedly passed in clear contravention of Section 188 (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which provides that, ‘A motion of the House of Assembly that the allegation be investigat­ed shall not be declared as having been passed unless it is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of the House of Assembly’”.

He insisted that 15 mem­bers could not be the “two-thirds majority of all the members of a 24 member House”.

Chima also alleged that des­perate attempts and over­tures were being made to induce and intimidate the nine lawmakers into yield­ing, against the demand of justice and good conscience, to the plot for the impeach­ment of Governor Elechi.

by Greenstarnetwork admin..