Ebri
Diana Okon-Effiong, Calabar
A former Governor of Cross River State, Chief Clement Ebri has condemned the recent impeachment of the erstwhile Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi by the Enugu State House of Assembly.
Speaking in an interview in Calabar, the former Governor said the impeachment of Mr. Onyebuchi on the flimsy grounds of running a poultry farm at the government House and failure to represent the governor at a ceremony in itself amounted to an abuse of the impeachment clause, and by implication a desecration of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Commenting further, Chief Ebri said “the action of the legislators was puerile, unconscionable, ridiculous, embarrassing and indeed a sad commentary on the practice of constitutional democracy in the country”.
Furthermore, the former Governor said the existence of a poultry farm in Government House, Enugu state was at the instance of one-time premier of Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Okpara, whose “Back to Land” policy propelled Agriculture to great heights, during the first republic.
He said: “the mere fact that in this year’s budget, there is a budgetary provision for the maintenance of the poultry farms in both the governor’s official residence and that of his deputy already presupposes that it was a legitimate enterprise after all and to think that the same House of Assambly which passed the appropriation act would turn around and impeach Mr. Onyebuchi for embarking on a project it had clearly provided for amounts to gross irresponsibility.
On the issue of non-representation at a ceremony, the former governor said such is a national embarrassment. He asked, “if indeed Mr. Onyebuchi had submitted a video to support his presence at the said event, why on earth would either the panel or the legislature find him guilty under any circumstance”.
He described members of the panel and the legislators as “actors in a sordid drama who must all bow their heads in shame”.
Ebri also chided both the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the presidency for allowing the matter to fester to such an extent as to produce such a ridiculous and embarrassing outcome.
According to him, a feeble issue such as this could have been resolved amicably without the dust generated assailing everyone’s nostrils if only both the party and the presidency had put in place a genuine dispute resolution mechanism to address it. He said that in “failing to rise to the occasion, by implication demonstrates a lack of capacity of the two institutions to govern this country”.
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