Elechi Accuses Anyim of Undermining Jonathan, Masterminding Impeachment

 

This is as 15 members of the State House of Assembly ratified constitutional breaches allegedly committed by Elechi and therefore served him impeachment notice.

In a state-wide broadcast to the people of Ebonyi State yesterday morning, Governor Elechi declared that though he had been reading about the rumours of his impeachment on the pages of newspapers, recent developments both in the state and at Abuja had shown that the SGF was behind the whole political crisis in the state.

Elechi added: “It is no longer secret that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, recently made a frantic effort to get the enlarged caucus meeting of the PDP pass a resolution for the impeachment of Chief Martin Elechi, the Governor of Ebonyi State.

“It is also common knowledge that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria and National Leader of the ruling PDP, stoutly opposed such a measure and preferred the path of reconciliation.

“What is important is not the clamour for Elechi’s impeachment, which can happen like any other event; what is important is that the people of Nigeria in general and the powers that be, in particular, should be properly informed as to whose role is working adversely on the President’s electoral fortune”.

“The Ebonyi Chief executive traced the genesis of the crisis bedeviling Ebonyi State chapter of the party, stressing that when the former State chairman, Prince Ugorji Ama-Oti, resigned his position as chairman on October 20, 2014 to enable him contest election, his deputy, Onwe Joseph Onwe, was allowed to act as chairman, pending the election of a substantive chairman.

“The Governor noted that after President Jonathan announced his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election, he organised a mammoth rally at Abakaliki Sports Stadium on November 22, 2014 to solicit support of Ebonyi people to President Jonathan’s election bid regretting that the rally in Abakaliki was boycotted by Deputy Governor and governorship aspirant, Chief Dave Umahi, his campaign organisation, the Speaker of Ebonyi Assembly, the Senatorial aspirants of Ebonyi Central and North Senatorial zones as well as the SGF.

“Following the huge success recorded in the outing, these same absentees from the rally placed an advertorial in a national newspaper, claiming the glory and self-congratulations for the success of the rally “organised by them’’; it was clear that the battle line had been drawn,” Elechi declared.

The governor lamented that no day passed without one or more national dailies reporting the thickening of impeachment plot against him adding that the reports border on efforts to assemble sufficient number of signatories or investigation to justify the impeachment,

He added: “It is interesting for Nigerians to know that the decision to impeach the Governor preceded the finding of justifiable reasons to do so; simply a case of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it…But because there have been no justifiable reasons, many honourable members of Ebonyi State House of Assembly received threat messages to either append their signatures or risk assassination and or kidnap of their family members.

“Others are coerced from the National Headquarters of the PDP to give their bank particulars so that (inducement) money will be paid into them. The accused agents in this regard are, respectively, Uche Secondus, (Deputy National Chairman) and Olisah Metu, (National Publicity Secretary). In consequence of the foregoing, many members of the Assembly have either fled the State or are in hiding”.

In an eight count charge signed by fifteen lawmakers and read on the floor of the house by the Acting Leader, Ogbonnaya Nwifuru, the lawmakers contended that the alleged gross misconduct was a clear violation of the constitution, which prompted them to endorse the notice of impeachment on the governor.