Ebonyi Assembly Impeachment: Stakeholders On Edge As Elechi Eats His Words
Now, there seems to be no more pretensions that the Ebonyi State governor, Chief Martin Elechi, is not clear-headed on how to prosecute his succession plan. Aside from the governor’s public pronouncements assuring of power shift to Ebonyi South Senatorial district, eminent political actors from the zone seem to oppose any attempt by him to unilaterally railroad any candidate to the governorship seat. Yet, while the Ebonyi South Senatorial politicians are busy fine-tuning strategies
to ensure that a governorship candidate from their zone emerges by general consensus or through direct primaries, aspirants for the same office have started showing up from both Ebonyi North and Central zones, otherwise called the old Abakaliki bloc. These governorship aspirants that want to negate Governor Elechi’s zoning plan accuse the governor of being insincere with the zoning stance and also of surreptitiously working for the emergence of another preferred candidate from Ebonyi North senatorial zone.
It is the foregoing scenario that mirrored activities trailing the impeachment of Hon. Chukwuma Nwazunku, as Speaker of the state House of Assembly on July 21, 2014. Though Elechi made great efforts to feign neutrality and impartiality in the impeachment of Nwazunku, which was actually the third of such impeachments in the Assembly within the governor’s second term; subsequent developments seem to belie his less than sincere attempt at mediation. It needs be recalled that shortly after the first impeachment of Mr. Ikechukwu Nwankwo, as Speaker on December 21, 2014, Elechi stated that he does not interfere with the business of the legislature. Even when the impeached speaker Nwankwo, who actually is Elechi’s religious godson, approached the State chief executive seeking his consent to commence a legal interrogation of the impeachment process, Elechi asked him not to. Consequently, either in appreciation of the governor’s non-interference posture or simply to make a clean break of the Nwankwo regime, his Deputy Speaker, Mr. Valentine Okike Uzor, was later impeached also. A series of suspensions were later witnessed under the new Speaker, Nwazunku, thereby distinguishing the legislature in a culture of irascible rascality. And just as the disagreement between Speaker Nwankwo and Elechi’s ‘chief security officer’ Chinedu Ogah, over who should supply official vehicles to the legislators led to Nwankwo’s impeachment, Nwazunku’s suspension of some leading lights of the Assembly, including his deputy, Mr. Blaise Eze Oji, Frank Nwaka Onwe and Eni Uduma Chima, hasted his own ouster.
However, while other impeachments and suspensions did not witness much loud recriminations or violent agitation, the removal of Nwazunku by 18 out of the 24 legislators has thrown Ebonyi into a state of monumental political unease. It is popularly held that because Elechi, through his Deputy, Chief David Nweze Umahi, had factored Nwazunku into the 2015 succession plan, the impeachment distorts his game plan as such he decided to eat his words and interfere. Though some sources disclosed that Nwazunku was promised an automatic ticket to the House of Representatives, others say he was charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the Izzi agenda of contesting the governorship in 2015 does not fly. “It was in performance of this selfish agenda that the former Speaker took a lie against Barrister Enwu to the Governor for which he, (Enwu) was removed as Coordinator of Mbeke Development Centre,” a source from Izzi clan disclosed. The Guardian gathered that Nwazunku and second term member of House of Representatives, Mr. Sylvester Ogbaga, were said to have been selected by loyalists of the Deputy Governor, Umahi, to serve as arrowheads in Izzi clan to checkmate the governorship ambition of the Izzi people. “Ogbaga has been penciled down as possible running mate to Umahi, while Nwazunku is to be rewarded with automatic ticket for the Ohaukwu/Izzi federal constituency,” the source explained. The source added that former Abakaliki local chairman, Matthias Adum is believed to be at the centre of the Izzi agenda, stressing that for that reason all those close to him are being blackmailed as opposing Elechi’s interest in power shift to Ebonyi South Senatorial zone.
It was perhaps on account of the centrality of Nwazunku to Elechi’s perceived succession plan that the Governor became restless over the former Speaker’s impeachment. On hearing of the impeachment, Elechi summoned the two groups - those loyal to former Speaker Nwazunku and those loyal to new Speaker, Mrs. Helen Nwaobashi - to a closed-door meeting. Sources at the meeting told The Guardian that the governor reminded the members of his belief in separation of powers, adding that though the legislators reserve the right to elect its leadership, they had to ensure that the constitution and good image of the state was not trampled. The source added that after getting details of the impeachment first hand, the Governor mandate Nwazunku to go and return the N120 million released two months earlier to him for the servicing of the official vehicles of the members.
“Governor then told us to consider transmitting the impeachment into resignation, so as not to injure the political future of the former Speaker,” the source noted, expressing dismay that the governor did not consider such soft landing for Ikechukwu Nwankwo when he was impeached by 16 out of 24 members in 2011. However, when the attempt to use gentle persuasion and carrot to wean the majority members away from the impeachment failed, Elechi was said to have prompted the Ebonyi Founding Fathers Forum to intervene. During a meeting with the Founding Fathers, both sides narrated their stands, chronicling in foul and derogatory language most of the sordid happenings in the life of the fourth Ebonyi State House of Assembly. Sources said that most of the speakers at the parley pointed accusing fingers at the member representing Onicha West, Odefa Obasi Odefa, saying that he capitalized on Nwazunku’s naivety to mislead the former Speaker into taking parochial decisions. According to the source, the deputy Speaker, Blaise Oji told the founding fathers that the plot to impeach Nwazunku was not motivated by any outside influence, pointing out that the first meeting where steps for the impeachment was mapped out held in his country home at Edda. “He also disclosed that the final meeting where the impeachment plot was concluded held at the residence of another member, Chris Usulor,” the source added. The Founding Fathers, stunned by the lack of genuine leadership in the Assembly, resolved that since it was a majority decision of the members, the impeachment should be allowed to hold. However, at the point of presenting the resolution to Elechi, a dethroned traditional ruler from Izzi, who was alleged to have received N10 million inducements from an interested party, gave a minority report, alleging that a senator who had governorship ambition actually instigated the impeachment.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the intervention by his fellow Founding Fathers, Elechi was said to have activated the machinery of the State Working Committee (SWC), of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to look into the House of Assembly leadership crisis. “The thinking was that if the founding fathers were not pliable to echo his heart, the PDP functionaries may read his body language and deliver a détente,” a source within the Governor’s inner circle hinted. But after the SWC met with the two factions of the Assembly, it did not come away with a different verdict from that of the Founding Fathers. However, some political abracadabra was fabricated, such that during a meeting with the governor to deliver its findings, the resolution of the SWC was allegedly not handed in. The SWC, were however, detailed to hold another meeting with the legislators, during which it was suggested that for peace to reign, the two claimants to the seat of Speaker should step aside for a fresh election. But the conditionality handed out to the legislators, indicating that all those who suffered suspension or impeachment should not be eligible for election as Speaker did not go down well with the legislators, especially those supporting the new Madam Speaker, Nwaobashi. And they were said to have complained that the conditionality infringes on their constitutional right to choose their leaders.
Elechi’s Sudden About-face
WHILE PDP’s suggested panacea for the resolution of the crisis was being debated, the Governor asked the SWC to summon another impromptu meeting with the legislators. At the meeting, Elechi, who had been masking his desire for peaceful settlement in mellifluous language, simulated the stance of a tiger. He was said to have informed the stunned legislators that he has come to the conclusion that the so-called impeachment did not take place after all, stressing that he was prepared to lay his life on the line for the matter. At that point legislators loyal to the new Speaker were said to have walked out of the PDP secretariat dejected and incredulous.
Addressing a press conference shortly in front of the PDP State Secretariat along Abakaliki-Enugu expressway, Elechi said as the leader of PDP in Ebonyi, he has chosen to recognise Nwazunku as the Speaker, pointing out that that position could only change on the order of a superior authority. Declaring that the decision to reinstate Nwazunku as the authentic Speaker is not negotiable, the visibly drained governor added: “Today being the eleventh day of August, 2014 exactly three weeks we woke up to hear the purported impeachment of Speaker of the House of Assembly Chukwuma Nwazunku. Ever since then there have been reactions from all manner of people from, the informed, the uninformed and ill informed. We have read from the pages of the newspapers of various comments and reactions from so on and so forth. We, as a party, we as a Government, remained calm and did everything to unravel what led to the alleged impeachment of the Speaker.” “We,” he went on, “interviewed both sides and they barred their minds and spoke frankly. On our own part, we believed that the issues that led to the alleged impeachment were not good enough to justify any attempt at impeachment. We are also convinced that the allegations which the members had against him were in all respect improper and unacceptable.”
The Ebonyi State helmsman said; “we realised our duty and obligation to ensure peace in Ebonyi State, not of course to deny the right of the honorable House to change its leadership as at and when it deems necessary. But we do not appropriate blames at that stage. We simply met with our elders and principal stakeholders in PDP and in the executive arm of government, by extension the entire Ebonyi State. Having considered all these and in the interest of justice, peace and fair play to prevail, we as a government, we as a party hereby state and affirm that Right Honourable Chukwuma Nwazunku was never impeached as being alleged. So he remains the Speaker of Ebonyi State Assembly and we shall continue to work with him.”
But a source within the Governor’s circle told The Guardian that Elechi decided on the meeting after the PDP youth leader, Chinedu Ogah, allegedly informed the Governor that the chairman of Ibeto Group, Dr. Cletus Ibeto, sponsored the legislators to impeach Nwazunku. Ibeto, it would be recalled, had been engaged in a bitter struggle with the Ebonyi chief executive over the ownership of the Nigercem factory, which his company purchased. “Hurt by that allegation, Elechi decided to take sides and support Nwazunku,” the source indicated. Ibeto has however denied any interest in Ebonyi politics, saying that, “I remain a businessman; that man should stop being afraid of his shadows.”
Polarized polity
MEANWHILE, Governor Elechi’s outburst has polarized Ebonyi. Reactions have continued to trail the governor’s stand on the Assembly crisis. Minority Leader of the Assembly, Mr. Enyi C. Enyi, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) condemned the attempt to review a purely legislative action in the confines of a party secretariat, adding that it is worrisome that PDP woke from its slumber to interfere in the legislative process when it did not show similar interest during previous impeachments and suspensions in the House.
In an interview with The Guardian, Enyi recalled on December 21, 2011 when 16 out of 24 members of the Assembly came together and impeached the Speaker, Ikechukwu Nwankwo, PDP did not intervene. “The former Deputy Speaker, Hon. Valentine Uzor, was impeached and also suspended for a period of six months; the party did not raise its voice. Even when a female legislator, Princess Lillian Igwe, was suspended for a period of one year, the PDP did not utter a word because all these suspensions exceeded the maximum period of fourteen days. It is therefore very curious that this time around when the butcher has been butchered that PDP is waking from its slumber to dictate to the House of Assembly how it should conduct its affairs,” he lamented.
The Minority Leader noted that “the most worrisome aspect is that after the impeachment of Nwazunku, the Majority Leader, Hon. Sam Nwali, was abducted, maimed and stripped naked, we are yet to see the level of intervention or interest shown by the state chapter of PDP in that ghastly display of violence and affront to the rights of the legislator.”
He therefore declared: “Those of us in the APC who took part in the impeachment of Mr. Nwazunku are opposed to any interference in the leadership of Rt. Hon. Helen Nwaobashi as the authentic Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly. She was validly elected by majority of the members and sworn into office at plenary in the hallowed chambers of the Assembly. But what appalls us the most is why PDP should show exceptional interest in Nwazunku. What could be the prime motive of asking for a soft landing as being canvassed by PDP for the former Speaker who was found guilty of gross misconduct?” Even within the larger PDP, while the three incumbent Senators and three House of Rep members out of the six from the state identify with the Helen Nwaobashi group, three members of the Green chamber support Nwazunku group.
More guber aspirants rebuff Elechi’s zoning idea
AS the impeachment imbroglio rages, the immediate past vice chairman of Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Anthony Agbo, announced his intention to contest the governorship of the state in 2015. Agbo, who represented Ebonyi North Senatorial zone in 2007 through 2011, said he was coming to restore light, true friendship and brotherly love in the state. He regretted that though the state was handed over to God in an elaborate ceremony in 1999, certain elements have pushed the state to the region on hate, mass starvation and neglect. Agbo said the governor lacks the power to decree where his successor would come from, pointing out that “Ebonyi is one; nobody should try to divide what God has joined together.” While rebuffing suggestions that he may not be given the PDP ticket, the Senator said he was sent on a divine assignment, stressing that platform cannot stop his mission. He said Elechi cannot be trusted in his sentimental zoning arrangement, recalling that the governor has never kept his words in the past “as such he cannot suddenly be born again at his age.”
Agbo’s entry into the governorship race increases the number of aspirants set to rebuff Elechi’s power shift plan. Chairman of Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Paulinus Igwe Nwagu, had declared his intention to contest despite that like Elechi, he hails from the same Ebonyi Central Senatorial Zone, but from the equally populous Ezza clan. Senator Julius Ali Ucha, whose group commands the APC structure is also rumoured to be oiling his machinery to contest the governorship. But Ucha may have to face the challenge of Dr. Steve Egbo, who was said to have demystified Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, by beating him during the last state congress of the party.
Meanwhile, a civil rights group called Future Hope Initiative (FHI), has accused Governor Elechi of setting the stage for political turbulence by failing to condemn acts of violence by his secret militia. In a statement, the group expressed disgust over the Governor’s broadcast, saying that his failure to condemn the abduction and attempted murder of the Majority Leader, Nwali, “is a grave omission pregnant with a lot of hidden meanings.” FHI described the governor’s failure to react to the abduction as an attempt to play the ostrich, pointing out that a lot of people in Ebonyi believe that the sponsors of the advertisement, which he sought to condemn were behind the kidnap of the majority leader. In the statement signed by Ezekiel Nkwuda and Dr. Ikpa Agwu, executive director and publicity secretary respectively, the rights group noted that by avoiding any mention of the criminal abduction and mayhem meted on the majority leader, the governor “seems to weaken the gravity of the crime and its implications on peace and security in Ebonyi State. Part of the statement read: “We listened to the press conference addressed by Ebonyi State Governor Chief Martin Elechi on the attempt by some people to use a sponsored advertorial in a national daily to dismiss the recent impeachment of the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Chukwuma Nwazunku, as an attempt to impeach Governor Elechi.
“The Governor succeeded in his clever use of words to show the negative intentions of the sponsors of the advertorial by stressing that ‘their intention is evil and all it is about is condemnable.’ But we are pained that the governor did not spare a word or sentence to draw attention to the crime of abduction and attempted assassination on the Majority Leader Mr. Sam Nwali.”
FHI noted that by failing to make any comment on the abduction of Nwali after he personally visited the victim at the state headquarters of the Department of State Security Services, the Governor has left the impression in the minds of citizens that he sanctioned the attack as being claimed by the suspects. “We are compelled to point out the worrying implications of this seemingly deliberate oversight, especially in the light of the approaching elections in the country. The situation becomes very disturbing when the suspects are left to walk the streets freely after just three hours of police interrogation,” the statement added. The group called on the new Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, to match his vow to fight criminals to a standstill by ordering “fresh investigations into the kidnap of Ebonyi Majority Leader and the attempts to cover up the crime on the pretext of political competition.”
Given what is playing out in the state, how Ebonyi would contain the fallout of the forthcoming PDP primary elections to select candidates for 2015, is better left to conjecture.
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