The Ebonyi State House of Assembly has suspended its Minority Leader, Mrs. Maria Nwachi of the Peoples’ Progressive Alliance for two weeks, following what it termed “dishonourable conduct.”
The motion for the suspension was moved by the member representing Ohaozara-West Constituency, Mr. Onu Nwonye, during a plenary session on Thursday.
In the motion, which was supported by Mr. Victor Uzoma of Ezza North-West Constituency, Nwonye alleged that on August 17, 2015, Nwachi, who represents Afikpo North-East Constituency, mobilised youths to carry out a violent demonstration, which led to the destruction of public property and disruption of public peace.
Nwonye, in his motion, said because of the actions of Nwachi, public peace was disrupted as she allegedly mobilised youths who “waylaid elders of the community, blocked roads, damaged a lot of things and generally caused havoc in the whole constituency.”
Nwonye added that if left unchecked, such acts could develop into civil unrest.
The Speaker of the House, Mr. Francis Nwifuru, put the motion to vote and it was adopted.
Some angry youths, who were protesting against power outage, had barricaded strategic junctions in Afikpo and Amaseri on August 17, 2015, disrupting human and vehicular movement in Afikpo North-East Constituency.
The demonstrators were said to have damaged properties belonging to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company.
In another development, a planned protest by students at the Ishieke Campus of the Ebonyi State University over power outage has been stopped by the state government.
The state Commissioner for Power, Mr. Emmanuel Uguru, who was hinted by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Students’ Affairs, Mr. Martin Ugwuegbu, about the impending protests, called a meeting with student leaders and EEDC officials.
Uguru commended the students for the maturity they showed in restraining themselves, while calling on the EEDC to investigate the circumstances surrounding the non-supply of electric power to the campus.
He also told the EEDC to stop issuing bills to the students until power was restored to the area. Agency report
