…They are jokers – Governor
About 8 members of the Benue State House of Assembly sat in Makurdi on Monday and commenced impeachment process against Governor Samuel Ortom, for alleged abuse of office and corrupt practices.
The 8 members led by the impeached Speaker, Terkimbi Ikyange, sat under tight security to announce the decision and served the impeachment notice on the governor. They also announced the suspension of 15 members of the House.
The impeached Speaker, who briefed newsmen in his Makurdi residence, insisted that he remains the authentic Speaker of the House. According to Ikyange, the House has given 7 days ultimatum to the governor to respond to all the alleged misconduct and corruption charges against him.
Armed policemen in the early hours of Monday had barricaded the entrance to the Assembly complex but only allowed members loyal to Senator Akume entry into the chambers where they were said to have carried out the action.
But predictably, Ortom said he remains the governor of Benue State.
In a statement by his media aide, Terver Akase, Ortom maintained that he is still the governor of the State. The statement read:
“Ortom is still the Chief Executive of the State. You can’t just impeach a Governor in a flash. You have to go through all the legal and constitutional processes.
They have not been able to form a quorum, so it is not possible. Only eight people served the governor the notice, even at that, 2 other members who were part of the kangaroo sitting were on the side of the governor, so how can anybody call that an impeachment notice. It’s laughable and must be ignored completely.
And for the record, there is a court injunction restricting the impeached Speaker from parading himself as the Speaker of the House and that court injunction has not been vacated.
He has been suspended for 6 months; he doesn’t have any constitutional right to go back to that Assembly.
He has done nothing to vacate that injunction so whatever he did stands null and void.”
Meanwhile, the House of Assembly has suspended the eight lawmakers behind the alleged ‘impeachment notice’ served on the governor. They were suspended for six months.
Nineteen lawmakers under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during a counter plenary at the old banquet hall of the Government House in Makurdi suspended the APC lawmakers for contempt of court and for holding illegal plenary.
The Chief Judge of Benue State High court, Justice Adam Onum, had last wee issued an order restraining the impeached speaker, Terkimbi Ikyange, from parading himself as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.