In Uromi, the headquarters of Esan East, two council members, Shedrack Onoghemenosen of Ward 11 and Samuel Udawele of Ward 2, sent an impeachment notice to the Leader of the House, Paul Uhumesi, accusing the two of abusing their positions for personal gain, eroding public trust, and undermining the integrity of local government institutions.
The impeachment of Kelly Inedegbor, the chairman of Esan North East, and his vice chairman, Thomas Otiobhili, as well as Tajudeen Alade, the chairman of Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, and his vice, were reportedly unanimously approved by the council members, based on allegations of gross misconduct, abuse of office, and failure to uphold their oath of office.
This action follows growing dissatisfaction among council members and the community over the leadership of the suspended officials.
To make the impeachment credible, the Leader of the House, Ubomesisl, also announced the suspension of three councillors—Sunday Ebosele (Ward 3), Smart Eboigbe (Ward 5), and Kingsley Osehon (Ward 10)—for undisclosed reasons.
According to reports from the Akoko-Edo Local Government Area headquarters in Igarra, several council members invaded the legislative chamber, convened a plenary session, and declared that the chairman and his vice were impeached. Next, they took over the chairmanship by installing Alabi Oshionogue as the acting chairman.
Oshionogue led the legislative branch before Tope Jacob took over as the new leader of the House. After assuming the chairmanship, Oshionogue announced that all appointments made by Hon. Alade had been revoked and that a committee had been established to retrieve all of the council’s lost property.
Witnessing the occurrence, former State House of Assembly Speaker Kabiru Adjoto expressed his satisfaction with the proceedings’ peaceful outcome. When contacted, the chairmen said their impeachment could not stand, as due process had not been followed.
Reacting, Alade stated that the purported suspension was illegal and did not follow due process, and he claimed the action was sponsored by those seeking access to the council’s treasury.
He said, “The purported act was carried out by a minority of councillors and 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.”
A statement from Inedegbor’s Press Secretary, Okonofua Osemobor, stated that Inedegbor was never served any impeachment notice.
“By law, the constitution stipulates a 14-day notice. In this case, due to their ignorance of the law, they acted contrary.”
“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 had closed for the day’s activities. How they gained access to the chambers is part of our call on our security agencies to investigate.”
“Upon interaction with the councillors who carried out this travesty of the law, it was 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.”
