From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The gale of impeachment of local government chairmen and deputies in Edo State continued yesterday with the sack of chairmen of Esan North East and Akoko-Edo local government councils, Dr. Kelly Ehidiamen Inedegbor and Tajudeen Alade and their deputies.
Inedegbor and his deputy were impeached unanimously at Uromi by the councilors over allegations of gross misconduct, abuse of office and failure to uphold their oath office.
The action followed an impeachment notice by two councilors, Shedrack Onoghemenosen of Ward 11 and Samuel Udawele Ward 2, addressed to the Leader of the House, Paul Uhumesi.
The legislative arm of the council accused the duo of misusing their positions for personal gain, eroding public trust, and undermining the integrity of local government institutions.
The Councillors further hinged their action growing dissatisfaction among council members and the community over the leadership of the suspended officials.
Before the impeachment exercise, the Leader of the House, Ubomesisl announced the suspension of three councilors – Sunday Ebosele (Ward 3), Smart Eboigbe (Ward 5) and Kingsley Osehon (Ward 10) for undisclosed reasons.
At Igarra, headquarter of Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, some councilors reportedly met in the legislative chamber after which they announced the impeachment of the chairman and deputy and then moved to take over the office of the chairman with an acting chairman, Alabi Oshionogue, leader of the legislative arm.
Shortly after taking over the office of the chairman, Oshionogue said a committee had been set up to recover all missing assets of the council and also dissolved all appointments made by the former chairman.
A former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Kabiru Adjoto, who witnessed the development said he was satisfied with the peaceful way the proceedings went.
But Alade has said the purported impeachment was illegal and did not follow due process and that the action was being sponsored by those who wanted to have access to the treasury of the council.
“The purported act was carried out by a minority of councilors and it is illegal. Just a few days ago, these same people invaded the secretariat and carted away my personal belongings. Today, I was told they went to repeat the same thing. We are in a democracy and there are laid down rules for impeachment but they did not follow any of these.”
Similarly, Chairman of Esan North East, Dr. Inedegbor, while describing the action of the Councillors as illegal, said he was not served any impeachment notice.
A statement by the Press Secretary to Dr. Inedegbor, Okonofua Osemobor, said: “The Constitution stipulates a 14-day notice. In this case, due to their ignorance of the law, they acted contrarily.
“The council chairman was not given any form of fair hearing nor did he appear before any panel of inquiry set up by the councillors to clear any allegations levelled against him.
“Upon our findings, it was revealed that the illegal impeachment took place at 12:30 am when everyone was asleep and the secretariat closed for the day’s activities. How they gained access into the Chambers is part of our call on our security agencies to investigate.
“Upon interaction with the Councillors who carried out this travesty, it has been revealed that three of their signatories were forged while four admitted they were coerced by a political leader in the local government whose identity will not be revealed at the moment.”