Ikpeazu denies any role in Abia Assembly crisis
…Says “I can’t benefit from outcome of crisis”
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
A former Special Adviser to Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu on Special Duties, Erondu Uchenna Erondu Jnr, accused of bankrolling the impeachment of Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, has washed his hands off the crisis rocking the state legislature.
In a statement he issued in Umuahia, Thursday, May 4, 2023, Erondu Jnr. vehemently denied playing any role in the Abia Assembly saga, saying that he was not yet a member of the House of Assembly and never sponsored the move to impeach the Speaker.
According to him, associating his name with the events that have enveloped the Abia Legislature which have seen the 24-member strong House divided into two opposing camps amounts to character assassination.
Erondu Jnr., who is the House of Assembly member-elect for Obingwa West State Constituency, was being rumoured to have sponsored the 16 lawmakers to impeached the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, to make way for him (Erondu) to emerge the Speaker of the 8th House of Assembly when he is inaugurated in June. “At no point did I engage anyone to obtain on my behalf, the buy-in of members of the 7th Assembly which I am not a member, for the speakership position of the 8th Assembly, as these rumours seem to suggest,” he asserted.
He argued that it makes no sense for him to sponsor such crisis, since as a non-member of the Assembly, he would not benefit from the outcome of the exercise.
“It is self-evident that I am not yet a member of the Abia State House of Assembly. I am therefore at a loss as to how I would have galvanised the 16 members who participated in the May 2, 2023 sitting of the House when I am not yet their colleague,” he said.
“It beats my imagination that my name could be associated with the internal wrangling in the House which has culminated into the present crisis rocking the House when I am not in any way connected to the day-to-day activities of the House and cannot possibly be a beneficiary of the outcome of the crisis in whatever way,” he added.
Calling on those spreading the rumour to stop on their tracks, the House of Assembly member-elect further said: “It is clear that these malicious allegations cum rumour are part of a surreptitious strategy being orchestrated by my traducers who are intent on soiling my good image and, by implication, that of this government which I have served creditably. I therefore wish to plead that these unfounded and malicious allegations should stop forthwith as it will not serve any useful purpose.
“I advise the idle minds manufacturing these lies and rumours and seeking to drag my name down to look for a meaningful venture to engage their brains rather than this reckless path of character assassination which can never be the exclusive preserve of any person or group of persons.”
Recall that Abians woke up last Tuesday morning to the news that 16 members of Abia State House of Assembly sat in an undisclosed location and impeached the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji.
In the drama that ensued, the impeached Speaker later Tuesday afternoon, convened and presided over the House plenary during which he suspended the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Uchendu, and seven other members who had earlier that day participated in his impeachment.
On Wednesday, May 3, 2023, both factions, currently consisting of nine members each, held parallel sittings, signaling that there may be no end in sight to the crisis bedeviling the Abia State Legislature.
