EXECUTIVE FIGHT: Governor Chime On The Hunt For His Deputy?
Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime
Enugu is on the rocks right now as sources are saying Governor Sullivan Chime has told the deputy governor of Enugu State, Chief Sunday Onyebuchi, to forward in his resignation letter.
According to Vanguard, the Deputy wrong doing is his choice to contest Enugu East senatorial election come 2015 against the governor’s choice, Chief of Staff, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo.
The issue has escalated to the point where the house has been mandated to gather the necessary amount of signatures to impeach Onyebuchi.
Sources say that 20 of the 24 lawmakers have already put down their signatures after being summoned to a meeting convened by Governor Chime at the Government house where he told them of the plan.
A government house staff said: “The lawmakers just rose from their meeting held at the Governor’s Lodge and I can tell you that the two-third majority needed to remove the Deputy Governor has been obtained and the impeachment notice has been signed”.
Information Committee of the State Assembly chairman and House Leader, Mr. SKC Udeokoye were not
available last night to confirm these reports as they failed to answer their phones.
Another source told Vanguard that the plot has already intensified and the lawmakers are already set to start the process this week.
Reports coming in states that the problem between the governor and his deputy began last year february, when Chime after being sick for over four months due to medical issues , his deputy had called him and asked him to resign his position immediatly.
The Source revealed: “There was an encounter between the governor and the deputy last Wednesday where they reportedly disagreed over the contest for the Enugu East senatorial election and other contentious issues between two of them. “This incident was said to have been witnessed by the governor’s Special Adviser on Inter-governmental Affair, Rita Mba. ”
Then the governor started to list out the sins of Onyebuchi, which included refusing to represent him at the last meeting of South East Governors’ Forum despite being informed by the Chief of Protocol.
Onyebuchi immediatly denied that he willingly denied attending the said event and said that Chime failed to tell him personally to show up and refused to take orders from a junior officer.
The source continued: “The governor also frowned against the deputy governor’s suggestion to remove from office the Chief of Staff, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, during his absence last year, a development that forced him to return to the country, even when the doctors did not give him clearance to return to Nigeria at the time. “He also frowned against the deputy’s refusal to heed his earlier advice not to venture into the Enugu East senatorial race, accusing him of associating with the opponents of his government”.
Onyebuchi feels he is being kicked out for his senatorial ambition despite his loyalty to the governor since the past seven years and he said this to the governor during their confrontation.
Then Chime lost it and in a rage of anger told the Deputy to exit the Government House or he will call his security men on him, seeing that the issue was already getting off control, Onyebuchi left the office.
Onyebuchi is reportedly aware of the impeachment process as he has been told by the PDP Chairman, who encouraged him to save face and pull the plug on his postion as the Deputy governor, but he rejected the idea even as his security entourage is being pulled out under his legs by Chime’s orders.
This is not the first time Governor Chime and his deputy are in loggerheads, Chime had earlier destroyed Onyebuchi’s poultry farm, where he had stored over 3000 birds.
In that case Onyebuchi cried foul and compared the governor to a power drunk official who only does what he wants and his judgement is influenced by anger and not reasoning.
