Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Eugene Odo has accused state governor, Sullivan Chime of championing illegality in the state.
Odo made this statement while reacting to a visit of the factional speaker, Chinedu Nwamba, State’s People Democratic Party (PDP) Leadership and Nine dissident members of the House to Govenor Sullivan Chime.
Odo while addressing Journalists in his residence described the supposed presentation of the new Speaker to the State PDP leadership and the Governor as a mere charade and exercise in futility.
He said “To crown it all, the father of the State who is the Governor, syndicated the presentation of a speaker that was elected unlawfully. That is not our expectation of what democracy should look like.
“In a house of 24, one would have expected that to remove a speaker is a legitimate process, but at least removal of the speaker should meet the requirements of the constitution.
“By virtue of Section 92 (1) c of our constitution, it states as follows: ‘That the Speaker of Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly shall vacate his office if he is removed from office by a resolution of the House of Assembly by the votes of not less than two thirds majority of members of the House’.
“Enugu State House of Assembly has 24 members. Two thirds majority of 24 members of the House is 16 voting excluding the person who is presiding. If you add the person, you are talking about 17 members.
“And we have found ourselves in a situation where only eight members and of course, if you exclude the presiding officer, we will be probably talking about a situation where only seven members sat under the watch of the Deputy Speaker, even when the Speaker did not travel.
“We want to appeal to conscience of entire Enugu people to rise up to the challenge. It is not about Eugene Odo. It is about democracy. It is about the future of our state. It is about God himself. We want to state categorically clear that I remain Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly.”
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