Abia Speaker, Chinedum Orji, impeached?
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Reports reaching The Oracle Today indicate that the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, may have been impeached.
It was gathered that his colleagues impeached him on Tuesday, at about 9 a.m. for offences yet to be made public, even as details of the purported impeachment are still sketchy as at Press time.
Sources claim that 18 members of the House signed up for the impeachment of the Speaker, with four of the 24-member House of Assembly withholding their assent.
Sources hinted that Hon. Chukwudi Apugo (Umuahia East), as having moved the motion for the impeachment and was seconded by Hon. Okey Igwe (PDP, Umunneochi).
A reputable online platform quoted the Deputy Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Uchendu, as confirming the development but declined giving further details.
A confidant of the Speaker had earlier Tuesday morning, reported that moves were being made to impeach the Speaker, adding that the plot thickened over the weekend with various meetings held by the aggrieved lawmakers to perfect the removal of the Speaker.
Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, emerged the Speaker of the 7th House of Assembly in June 2019 and when he became a lawmaker in 2015, was elected the Majority Leader of the House.
The son of former Governor Theodore Orji, currently the Senator representing Abia Central Senatorial District, Chinedum made efforts to graduate to the National Assembly, having contested for the House of Representatives seat to represent Umuahia/Ikwuano Federal Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections.
But his ambition hit the rocks as the Labour Party candidate for the same Federal Constituency, High Obi Aguocha, floored him at the polls.
Sources at the House of Assembly in Umuahia confirmed that the complex witnessed tight security, as a combined team of security agents barricaded its entrances early this morning.
