With the impeachment process of Enugu State deputy Governor, Sunday Onyebuchi, entering its second week, sound beats emanating from the state indicate that the fate of the embattled deputy may have been sealed. This is despite his response to the allegations submitted to the members of the State House of Assembly on Wednesday.
In an impeachment notice signed by 22 of the 24-member House of Assembly, Onyebuchi was accused of abuse of office by operating commercial livestock and poultry farms within residential neighbourhoods in his official quarters, against government policies as well disregard to governor’s directives.
Adjourning the sitting of the House of Assembly on the matter till Tuesday, Speaker, Eugene Odo, directed the Chief Judge of the state, Innocent Umezuruike to constitute a seven–man panel in line with Section 188 of the Constitution to investigate the allegations against the deputy Governor.
The directive followed the reply to the allegations leveled against Onyebuchi, who in his response had refuted the allegations leveled against him, arguing he was not “guilty of any act of gross misconduct” to warrant the setting up of an impeachment panel to investigate him.
Taking the issues one after the other, the embattled deputy Governor denied running a poultry farm in his official residence, observing that the allegation was not mentioned in all the correspondence he exchanged with the office of Chief of Staff before his over 3000 birds were carted away in January this year.
He said: “The main reason stated in the letters issued to me for requiring the relocation of the poultry farm was the fact that I was
in breach of the purpose clause of the Certificate of Occupancy covering my official residence. I still say that there is no such Certificate of Occupancy in existence in respect of the deputy Governor’s official residence. I also wish to point out that in all
the correspondence, no mention was made on any resolution of the Enugu State House of Assembly prohibiting the maintenance and operation of a poultry farm within residential neighbourhoods in Enugu metropolis.”
Onyebuchi also denied other allegations, stressing that he had in the last seven years carried out the directives of the Governor to the best of his ability and faithfully, “avoiding rancor, quarrelling and complaining.”
However, there is the underlying fact that denying the allegations may not return him to his job, as there seems to be a determined agenda to get him out of office no matter his level of innocence in.
This is because the Governor is no longer disposed towards him.
Those watching the political developments in the state believed that the Governor holds the big stick and uses at it in his whips and caprices, in favour or against any of his appointees. They insisted that whatever is happening now is Governor Sullivan Chime’s way of expressing his executive power.
Between 1999 and 2007, when his predecessor, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani was governor, whatever he does not like, no matter how good such venture might be, never happened in the state. In eight years, Nnamani applied his executive powers so much so that
he rolled out more political office holders than any administration of the state before his time. An attempt by the then House of Assembly to break his hegemonic hold on power claimed several casualties as majority of those who formed parallel opposition against him never returned in 2003. They have not also recovered from that futile political sojourn.
When Nnamani wanted a successor, he did not need anybody’s advice to settle for Chime and his Deputy Onyebuchi. Some members of the party who felt otherwise complained and later began to live with it; others abandoned the PDP to join other political parties.
In this era of Chime, the exercise of his constitutional powers, political dominance and control is not in doubt. The government is structured in such a way that, whatever Chime wishes, is not subject to challenge by any organ of government or individual and the so-called claim of supremacy of the party has become inconsequential.
In the unfolding impeachment saga, Governor Chime had said: “By the time I open my mouth, everybody will be shocked to know what has been happening between my deputy and I in the past years. It has actually come to a point where we need to know who actually the boss is, because we can no longer work together,” the governor said, adding that he had tolerated Onyebuchi in a bid “to protect our common family, called the PDP.”
Pundits believe that this mindset of the governor may have sealed the fate of the deputy and that whatever is happening now at the State House of Assembly will never change anything.
“Nothing is going to change; Onyebuchi’s fate is sealed. What can the House of Assembly do than to be used to perfect the process? We are in Enugu, where every organ is an appendage of the governor. Enugu Assembly lacks bite and will never have an independent opinion in matters of the state,” a source said.
Those who hold the opinion insist that though it is the responsibility of the legislature to impeach the deputy Governor after thorough investigation, the way and manner the lawmakers have carried on so far indicate that the issue is not one where they should spend their time.
Mr. Osita Okechukwu, spokesman of the APC in the Southeast, noted that the Civil Liberties Organization had after going through the allegations, expressed displeasure that a state Assembly could commence an impeachment process on a deputy Governor based on flimsy allegation. They said “only a rubber stamp State Assembly could engage in such exercise.”
The Guardian learnt that since their inauguration in 2007, activities of the House have centered mainly on resolutions or amendment of executive bills. The only time it passed a private member bill was last month, when the deputy Speaker, Chime Oji sponsored the bill calling for the establishment of the Enugu State Investment Promotion Commission and other connected purposes.
In 2012, residents raised the alarm over the poor quality work done by road construction contractors in the state. In the bid to exercise their oversight functions, the State Assembly went round the projects to affirm the fear of the residents and had convoked public sitting at which the contractors were summoned. It ended up recommending sanctions, which include, returning to site and blacklisting of certain contractors for shoddy jobs.
However, that position was watered when the Governor, during the presentation of his scorecard last year at Nike Lake Hotel, where he gave one of the affected contractors a clean bill of health, promising that government would continue to engage him. Indeed, despite complaints that the contractor had not performed well, he has continued to handle road projects in Nike area for the state.
Onyebuchi’s case is one in which the House cannot be different. There are personal political interests that have taken precedence over the vow they made during their inauguration to “uphold justice, truth and fairness” as well as discharge their responsibilities without “fear or favour,” in such a manner that could move the state forward.
The Guardian learnt that though it is a 24-member House of Assembly, the members had varied years of service in the House. While the Speaker, Eugene Odo came in 2003 and was the House chairman on Judiciary and Privileges till 2007, when he was elected Speaker, he has since then inherited two sets of members with about sixteen of them presently in their first tenure.
It was further gathered that these set of lawmakers have influenced most decisions as a way of bargaining for their second term ticket, while those who are now on either second or third terms have done little or nothing to position the House to act independently, so as not to be branded as opposition.
Watchers also insist that the hangover from the previous administration, where Enugu Assembly reeled in crisis for almost four years is responsible. Within that era, Enugu Assembly produced four Speakers in quick succession, including Cletus Enebe, Festus Uzor, KOK Ogbozor and Abel Chukwu, all in the bid to extricate itself from the clutches of the executive.
Also affected in the bug is the state chapter of the PDP, which many had expected to wade into the matter. Sources said that the hands of the members of the state executive of the party are tied, as they can neither speak nor act because of political interests, especially as the election of 2015 draws near.
A source close to the state chapter of the PDP said the party had never met nor discussed the issue, stressing that what seemed like an intervention from the party was when the governor asked its state chairman, Vita Abba to convey his decision to Onyebuchi to resign or risk impeachment.
“How do you expect the leadership of the party to wade into the matter, knowing that our state chairman is also interested in the governorship position of the state in 2015 that has been zoned to his area? The word here is caution. Nobody wants to intervene, as doing so will be like throwing a challenge at the Governor and knowing that he has power to decide what happens next year, this executive will rather prefer that the faceoff be sorted out without their involvement,” a member of the party told Guardian.
He stated that the party caucus, which is the highest decision
organ of the party found itself in a similar mess last Saturday during a meeting called by the Governor on the issue.
“Rather than discuss the implication of the ongoing process, especially with few months to the end of the administration and the forth coming elections, they preferred to give the Governor a standing ovation after he read out the catalogue of ‘sins’ of his deputy. They chorused that he should resign without hearing from the man in question,” he said.
He continued: “Anyway, I don’t blame them because at the PDP caucus, majority of those that make up the meeting are persons that want political relevance and rehabilitation, having been out of office for some time. So supporting the actions of the Governor is almost a meal ticket; that is why some of them will not want to hear the defense of the deputy Governor before giving him a bad name, all in the bid to make the master happy.”
Justifying however why the State Assembly, the party executive and its caucus are handicapped, especially in the present case, pioneer state chairman of the PDP, COC Egumgbe, a lawyer, told the Guardian that the nomination of a deputy Governor was solely the responsibility of the governor.
He stated that the Governor was answerable to all the actions about his administration, adding that he was in the best position to know what could be done to make his administration better.
“We see this as purely an administrative matter. What people say out there is Sullivan Chime administration, not PDP administration or Sunday Onyebuchi administration. The Governor is solely responsible for running of the state. He nominated his deputy and the Constitution is clear on the functions of the deputy Governor, which is purely taking instructions and directives from the Governor. If he feels that those directives are not well taken and are affecting the smooth operation of his government, I do not see why he should not be allowed to make changes to get the government going,” he said.
Egumgbe, who is a member of the PDP caucus and chairman, Disciplinary Committee of the party called on the deputy Governor to toe the path of honor and resign, as, “the man who appointed him is no longer willing to continue to work with him, I do not think there is any need to continue to hang on. There is very little that anyone can do in this regard.”
Meanwhile, the Civil Liberties organization (CLO) has asked the Chief Judge of the state to exercise his constitutional duty to uphold constitutionalism and rule of law, particularly in a case like this.
CLO said: “This present scenario in the state poses a great challenge to the survival of our country’s democracy due to the absolute abuse of the word “gross misconduct.” The Guardian
