Impeachment: Onyebuchi seeks re-instatement at Enugu High Court October 20, 2014 - By Austin Ogwuda Enugu—Impeached deputy governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, has gone to an Enugu State High Court seeking re-instatement. Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, is leading a five-man team of lawyers in the suit number E/373/2014 in which the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Eugene Odoh, and 23 other lawmakers as well as the new Deputy Governor, Pastor Ifeanyi Nwoye, are joined as co-defendants. He is praying the court to determine “whether the Enugu State House of Assembly could initiate removal or impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor of Enugu State for the purposes of removing him from office when he had not committed a gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office as Deputy Governor of the state. “Whether the allegations contained in the “Notice of allegation of gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of the office of the Deputy Governor of Enugu State Re: Sunday Onyebuchi”, dated 22 July, 2014 by the House of Assembly to wit: (a) Abuse of office in that he flouted the resolution of the House of Assembly which prohibited maintenance and operation of commercial livestock and poultry farm within residential neighborhoods in Enugu, by maintaining and operating commercial farm in his official quarters and (b) that he refused to represent the governor of the state when directed, (i) at the flag-off of the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge in Onitsha by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces His Excellency President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, on the 11th day of March, 2014 and (ii) at the South East Governors forum held at the Lion Building Enugu, on 6th day of July 2014, constitute gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office as Deputy Governor of Enugu State thereby enabling the Enugu State House of Assembly to invoke its powers under Section 188 (1-9) of the Constitution to initiate removal or impeachment proceedings against His Excellency, Sunday Onyebuchi, the Deputy Governor of Enugu State. “Whether Enugu State House of Assembly lawfully exercised its powers when it voted and purportedly removed Sunday Onyebuchi, the deputy governor of Enugu State, acting on the recommendation of a 7-man panel of investigation which purportedly investigated His Excellency on acts which do not constitute gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office as the Deputy Governor of Enugu State.” The former Deputy Governor is also seeking for “a declaration that the purported Notice of Allegation of misconduct served on him as a preparatory step to his removal by the defendants was unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever, having regard to the provisions of Section 188 (1)-(9) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)”. He also asked the court to declare that the motion passed by the defendants on July 22, 2014 calling for the investigation of the allegation of misconduct against him “is in contravention of Section 188 (1)-(9) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and to that extent, the said motion is unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect whatsoever. “A declaration that Section 188 of the Constitution is not a weapon available to the Enugu State House of Assembly to subject or police the plaintiff for any wrong doing not committed in the performance of the functions of his office as Deputy Governor. “A declaration that the Allegations of Gross misconduct as contained in the Notice of Allegations of Gross Misconduct dated 22nd July 2014 and served on the Plaintiff by the 1st -24th Defendants do not constitute gross misconduct as envisaged by the provisions of Section 188 of the Constitution to warrant the 1st – 24th Defendants to invoke their powers under S.188. Meanwhile, no definite date has been fixed for hearing on the motion seeking for substituted service on the defendants but Vanguard reliably gathered that the case had been assigned to Justice Ngozi Emehelu. - Vanguard
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:43:29 +0000
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