Governor Uduaghan And Cohorts Impose New Assembly Speaker On Delta State
Following the forceful resignation of the Delta state House of Assembly speaker, Mr. Victor Ochei as a result of the impeachment plot against him by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, the governor and persons described as his cohorts Tuesday installed a new speaker for the house amidst tight security.
Governor Uduaghan had last week plotted the impeachment of Mr. Ochei as the speaker of the house following what an impeccable lawmaker described as underground political feud between the governor and the speaker which resulted to the impeachment plot against the speaker, but along the line two options were given him by the governor to either tender his resignation or face impeachment music.
Mr. Ochei, it was reliably learnt had no option than to tender his resignation as demanded by the governor.
As early as 8am this morning, Nigeria time, an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), trucks of mobile policemen and other conventional security agencies were already stationed at the gate of the Assembly complex preventing people from gaining entrance into the complex.
Before the commencement of the installation of the new speaker, cohorts of Governor uduaghan led by Peoples Democratic Party State chairman, Peter Nwaoboshi, the Chief political Adviser to Governor Uduaghan, Ighoyota Amori and Faith Majemite an aide to the governor among others who were said to be the main actors in the forceful removal of the former speaker stormed the Assembly main chambers and were ushered in by some members.
Shortly after their arrival, the deputy speaker, Mr. Basil Ganagana, welcomed the governor’s cohorts and members to the installation ceremony where he read before the floor of the house the resignation letter of the former speaker.
Thereafter the majority leader of the house, Mr. Monday Igbuya, who was said to be one the executioners of Ochei’s impeachment, quickly moved for the acceptance of the former speaker’s resignation letter and was seconded by Mr. Martins Okonta, the house then unanimously adopted the letter.
The deputy majority leader, Mr. Johnson Erijo then moved for the nomination of Mr. Peter Onwusanya, representing, Oshimili South constituency as the new speaker which was seconded by Mr. Sam Obi representing Ika North East constituency and unanimously adopted by the house and the new speaker immediately took over the speaker’s seat.
Meanwhile, mild drama ensued during his acceptance speech as the new speaker, Mr. Onwusanya, who does not understand parliamentary protocols committed several blunders, thereby throwing members into uncontrollable laughter.
While thanking governor Uduaghan, PDP chair, Mr. Nwaoboshi, state PDP chairman and members for his installation, the new speaker, Mr. Onwusanya, however, stated that he will not forget in a hurry the kind of quality leadership in the immediate past speaker, Mr. Ochei, especially in the areas of stability, transparency and infrastructure.
It is unclear what will become Mr. Ochei’s fate as governorship candidate in view of the forceful removal from office. The speaker had been a favorite of the governor and jailed former governor of the state, James Ibori. Since becoming speaker, Mr. Ochei had been given choice power project contracts in the state that had made him extremely wealthy according to officials of the state.
Mr. Ochei was, however, absent during the installation of the new speaker today.
