From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) has been called upon to urgently intervene in the ongoing political crisis in Ebonyi State that has pitted the state Governor, David Umahi, and the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Francis Nwifuru, against the former Deputy Speaker, Odefa Obasi Odefa, for the overall interest of peace in the state.
This is contained in a petition addressed to the office of the Inspector General of Police by Nkemakolan Okoro, counsel to the deputy speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly.
The petition dated February 22, 2022, was received at the Central Mail Collection Department of the Force Headquarters, Abuja on the same date.
Besides, the governor and the speaker of the House of Assembly, the petitioner equally accused Kingsley Ikoro.
Odefa, who attributed his current ordeal, to his refusal to decamp from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), said his life is now in danger.
He chronicled some unpleasant actions carried out against him by the state government on account to his decision to remain in the PDP to include but not limited to intimidation, harassment and other acts capable of breaching public peace in the state.
He disclosed that his purported letter of resignation as a deputy speaker of the House of Assembly was allegedly forged just to remove him from office and as a member of the state House of Assembly.
This, he alleged, was shortly after he held a press conference in Abuja where he publicly affirmed his membership of the PDP.
The petition reads in part: it is our client’s instructions that he was elected as a Member of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, in March 2019. Sometime in June 2019, our client was elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly.It is further our client’s instructions, that on the 19th day of November 2020, the Governor of Ebonyi State who was elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, made desperate efforts, to drag high ranking members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ebonyi State, with him to the Apc, which attempt, sisted by the said members of the People’s Democratic Party.
That just recently, David Umahi, approached him, to join his team to the All Progressives Congress National Convention, earlier scheduled to hold in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory in February 2022, so as to support his presidential ambition. That he informed the governor, that he will not join him to the APC, convention, as he is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party. That pursuant to his conversations with the governor, he held a press conference on the 19th day of February 2022, wherein, he publicly reaffirmed his membership of the Peoples Democratic.That his public declaration and affirmation of his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party incensed the governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, who immediately put the machinery in motion to illegally remove him as member of the state House of Assembly and as the Deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly
That the said letter by which he was purportedly removed from office, was dated the 15th of November 2021 and received in the office of the Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly on the 21st day of February 2022, pursuant to which the Speaker, in connivance with some members of the state House of Assembly, allegedly removed him from office and declared his seat vacant.That he never authored any such letter, and never submitted any such letter to the office of the Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, on the said 21st day of February 2022, or any other date whatsoever, or to anyone whosoever.
He stated he and members of the Peoples Democratic Party, do not have confidence in the neutrality of the Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State, in respect of political issues in the state, and want a neutral police Department in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory to investigate this matter and to restore peace, law and order in Ebonyi State.