Two parallel sittings were held on Wednesday by opposing members of the Abia State House of Assembly.
The Speaker, Chinedum Orji and those loyal to him held their own session at the Assembly complex under tight security, while the other camp under the leadership of Chukwudi Apugo, and his loyal lawmakers sat at an undisclosed location in Umuahia.
Trouble started when some lawmakers had Tuesday met outside the assembly chambers and impeached the Speaker Orji whom they accused of insensitivity over the welfare of the members.
In turn, Orji held a sitting in the House and impeached the Deputy Speaker, Ifeanyi Uchendu who presided over his purported impeachment.
He also suspended the nine lawmakers who participated in the sitting where he was purportedly removed. He dismissed his impeachment as a nullity.
The member representing Aba South state constituency, Hon Obinna Ichita (APGA), who is in Apugo’s camp, said they were not being sponsored by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. He said he cannot side with the Governor who he had had frosty relationship because of his critical stance against the governor’s administrative style.
Ichita said they impeached Orji because he refused to convene the House which had been under lock and key for four months.
”Which House of Assembly in Nigeria has been under lock and key for four months? It’s not proper for you to lock the House of Assembly for the past four months. So, for the past four months, the House hasn’t sat, and that’s not appropriate.
“The judiciary has collapsed and you want the legislative arm to also collapse. And we have a struggling Executive arm.”
Ichita revealed that his camp has removed the Majority Leader, Solomon Akpulono by suspension, adding that Orji and all seven of them who met yesterday were suspended.
“We suspended them for engaging in a purported plenary yesterday. They didn’t have the quorum. They were only seven. The new Speaker has also dissolved all the standing committees of the House, and reconstituted the committees.
Speaker Orji denied single-handedly locking up the House for four months, saying it was a collective decision of the lawmakers to go on break.
The Speaker who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Jude Ndukwe, said the splinter lawmakers were only looking for excuses to justify their unlawful actions
He insisted that he remains the Speaker of the Assembly describing his “purported impeachment and suspension by suspended lawmakers” as ridiculous.
