The South East Zonal legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) Barr Ukpai Ukairo has condemned failed impeachment of the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji
In a statement he endorsed on Wednesday, Barr Ukairo said what played out a a private residence in the name of removing the Speaker was an attempt to unconstitutionally take over the legislative arm of government .
“Late in the evening of 2nd day of May, 2023, I watched, with utter dismay and consternation, on several internet platforms, a purported proceedings of the Abia State House of Assembly at which the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Engr. Chinedu Orji was allegedly impeached”
“My inquiries have, since, revealed that what was posted was neither AI-generated nor photo shopped. The facts, as established, come to this: some members of the Abia State House of Assembly sat at the dining table in a private House or residence and thereat passed a resolution claiming to have impeached the Speaker of the House of Assembly. Had it not been for the seriousness of the issue at stake I would have recommended the footage I watched to the hall of infamy of comic short films. My disgust, and I am sure that of all civilized democrats, is informed by the fact that the law is so clear on the appropriate sitting place of House of Assembly. It is illegal, void and sheer brigandage to hold proceedings of a Legislature outside the Legislative House , especially when the issue at stake is the momentous act of impeaching a speaker or a Governor”
“Section 1(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria makes it clear that it is unconstitutional for any person or group of persons to take control of “the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof except in accordance with the Constitution”. By several decisions of our superior courts, from 1999 till date , it is now settled law that proceedings of a House of Assembly at a place other than in the Legislative House, the place of sitting, is a clear attempt to take over an arm of the Government through unconstitutional means. Accordingly, it is safe to assert that those members of the House of Assembly who sat in that accursed proceeding, and their cohorts, should be arrested and prosecuted for treasonable felony for attempting to take over part of the Government through unconstitutional means”
” It is worth repeating that the practice of democracy calls for strict adherence to due process. Those members ran afoul of this principle and breached their oaths of office in the manner they acted. It needs repeating that the Peoples Democratic Party is the only political party with an institutional frame work for upholding the tenets of liberal democracy in accordance with the 1999 Constitution. This strong character of the PDP is founded on the fact that PDP was wrought on the crucible of the struggle to enthrone democracy in Nigeria.
“Against the above background I insist, with all force at my command, that what happed is inconsistent with the core values of PDP. Accordingly, the relevant organs of the PDP ought to initiate appropriate steps demonstrating a disdain for the action of the PDP members who were involved in the charade. At the same time all those implicated in the dastardly act should be prosecuted. These actions are, without prejudice to the mediatory role already initiated by the Governor of Abia State, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu (PHD)” he concluded
