Impeachment: Imo state deputy governor Madumere drags chief judge, speaker to court

macfranc007 July 18, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 Tunde Ososanya

- The Imo state chief judge, Justice Paschal Nnadi has been dragged to court by the deputy governor of the state, Prince Eze Madumere

- The state House of Assembly and its speaker, Acho Ihim, were also dragged to court by the deputy governor

- They were all dragged to court over the planned impeachment initiated against the deputy governor

The Imo state chief judge, Justice Paschal Nnadi, the state House of Assembly and its speaker, Acho Ihim, have been dragged to court by the embattled deputy governor of the state, Prince Eze Madumere.

The deputy governor prayed the court to quash the planned impeachment initiated against him by the lawmakers, Vanguard reports.

NAIJ.com gathers that the deputy governor sought a declaration that the speaker and the House of Assembly, having not personally served the purported notice of gross misconduct dated July 10, 2018, or a notice of any allegation made by the legislature on him, “cannot be said to have commenced or initiated the process of the removal of the plaintiff from office as deputy governor of Imo state, in accordance with the provisions of Section 188(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended."

Part of the eight-point relief sought by Madumere read: “An order restraining the first defendant (the chief judge) from appointing a panel of seven persons to investigate the allegation(s) against the plaintiff, upon the purported request of the second defendant (speaker), acting on the unconstitutional resolution or motion of the third defendant (House of Assembly) made on July 11, 2018.”

He also urged the court to decide “whether the purported undated report of the assembly’s six-man ad hoc committee, which held that a prima facie case has been made out against the plaintiff is a nullity, having been made without locus standi and in breach of the plaintiff’s right to fair hearing.”

The court was also urged to decide whether a seven-man panel can be appointed by the chief Judge to investigate the assembly’s “notice of gross misconduct,” dated July 10, 2018, when the speaker’s request to that effect “is unconstitutional, null and void, having not complied with the provisions of section 188(1), (2), (3) and (4) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.”

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the Imo state House of Assembly, on Tuesday, July 10, began the impeachment of the deputy governor of the state, Eze Madumere, as political tension continued between him and Rochas Okorocha.

The deputy speaker of the House of Assembly, Ugonna Ozuruigbo, moved the motion for the impeachment of Madumere.

What is cooking in Imo state? - on NAIJ.com TV