Enugu crisis: Igbo-Eze North councillors move to impeach chairman BY OUR REPORTER ON NOVEMBER 26, 2014 POLITICS Our Reporter: WILLY EYA The Political crisis rocking Enugu State ahead of next year’s governorship election continued yesterday with 16 out of the 20 councillors of the Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, moving a motion for the impeachment of the council chairman, Bonaventure Onuh. Onuh is a close ally of Senator Ayogu Eze, who is believed to belong to the faction of the ruling People’s Democratic Party loyal to Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who has been slugging it out with Governor Sullivan Chime in the ongoing factional crisis over 2015 elections in the state. The councilors on Tuesday unanimously voted to serve an impeachment notice on the chairman of the council, Mr. Bonaventure Onuh, over alleged “misappropriation and embezzlement of local government funds” within this year, totaling N1,751,2291,339. They had last week impeached the leader of the legislative arm of the council, Hon. Kenneth Odo, said to be an ally of the chairman, accusing him of conniving with Onuh to scuttle the sitting of the council for four consecutive times without any reason. In a seven-page impeachment notice raised by the councillors yesterday and addressed to the Secretary to the Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council for service on Mr. Onuh, the councillors stated: “This action is backed up with signatures of 16 out of 20 legislators and is taken pursuant to Section 14 of Local Government Law, Cap 109, Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria, 2004”. They mandated the secretary to the local government to perform his duties, as stipulated by Section 14(2) (b) and 14(4) of the Local Government Law by serving the notice of impeachment on the chairman of the council and also informing the chief judge of Enugu State to appoint a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations contained in the notice and to inform the governor of Enugu State in writing of this impeachment proceedings. According to a copy of the impeachment notice made available to Daily Sun, the councillors informed that notwithstanding the procedural requirement of routing the document through the local council scribe, “advance copies of this notice of impeachment have been sent to the chairman, the chief judge and the governor of Enugu State.” The new leader of the council, Hon. Onyekachi Itodo, his deputy, Hon. Tochukwu Mamah, and 14 other councillors were present during the tension-soaked sitting and all the 16 of them signed the impeachment notice. Giving particulars of the alleged misappropriation and embezzlement of local government funds leveled against the chairman, they cited “none implementation and execution of 2014 budget of N1,751,2291,339,” adding that of the budget, N70 million was approved by the council for payment of compensation to land owners at the Eke Ozzi New Market. They alleged that the said sum was retired by the chairman but that he did not pay the land owners the compensation. The Councillors also alleged that of the 2014 budget, over N237.2 million was approved for grading, reconstruction of roads and bridges but that “the money was retired but no road was graded and no bridge was constructed in Igbo-Eze North in 2014.” They alleged that of great importance to the councillors was the sum of N20 million budgeted for the completion of their legislative building whose roof under construction has been allowed to cave in yet the appropriated sum has allegedly been retired by the chairman. The councillors also accused Mr. Onuh of retiring N50 million presumed to have been spent in building primary schools in some 11 communities in the local government but that no such school buildings were constructed by the local councils in those communities in 2014. Other allegations included the sums of N20 million, N100 million, N30 million, another N30 million, N25 million, N17 million for agriculture, N30 million for environmental improvement but that none of the projects for which the sums were approved was executed, even when the chairman allegedly retired the money. Daily Sun called the cell phone of the embattled council chairman twice yesterday before filing in this report but there was no response from him.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 04:09:50 +0000
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