Tight Security As Ebonyi Assembly Plans To Impeach Deputy Speaker, Odefa

Members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly have reportedly concluded plans to impeach the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Odefa Obasi Odefa from office.

Naija News gathered that security operatives have been stationed around the assembly complex in order to forestall the breakdown of law and order during plenary on Monday.

It was learned that the APC members and the leadership of the assembly had gathered over 15 signatures for the impeachment process, which is not up to the required quorum for such an exercise.

In a statement on Saturday, Odefa revealed the plan to impeach him from office over his decision to stay in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and not defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Odefa claimed that the plot to illegally remove him from office was been perfected by the house leadership, accusing Governor Dave Umahi of being behind the plan.

Meanwhile, a suit seeking to challenge the eligibility of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019, Atiku Abubakar has been dismissed by a Federal High Court, Abuja.

Justice Inyang Ekwo while ruling on the suit on Monday noted that the grounds that the plaintiff instituted the case lacked the locus standi (legal right) to do so.

The plaintiff was described by Justice Ekwo as a “busy body and meddlesome interloper.”

A group, Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa, in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/177/2019 had sued Atiku, the PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Attorney General of the Federation as 1st to 4th respondents respectively.

The EMA challenged the eligibility of the former Vice President to contest for the presidency on the grounds that he was not a Nigerian citizen by birth.

The group asked the court to hold, among others, that considering the provisions of Sections 25(1) &(2) and 131(a) of the constitution and the circumstances surrounding the former vice president’s birth, he cannot contest for the top office.