Imo Assembly declares member seat vacant, suspends three lawmakers

The Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Kennedy Ibeh, has declared vacant the position of the member representing Ngor Okpala state constituency, Tochi Okere. He also suspended three lawmakers for what he called dereliction of duty.

The suspended lawmakers are Authur Eguim (Ideato North), Ngozi Obiefule (Isu), and Obinna Okwara (Nkwerre).

While asking the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a by-election to elect a new representative for the constituency,  at the plenary on Thursday, the speaker said the sacking of the Ngor Okpala representative was in line with the house rules and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He said Okere had not attended plenaries up to one-third since he was inaugurated as a lawmaker in 2019.

Ibeh disclosed that the assembly’s register indicated that the sacked lawmaker only attended plenaries 29 times in 2019, 14 times in 2020 and had not attended plenary in 2021. The speaker also disclosed that the parliament had received two petitions from Ngor Okpala, urging the assembly to declare vacant based on non-performance.

Ibeh also said the three suspended lawmakers failed to attend legislative activities on the 2022 budget proposals as submitted to the assembly by the state governor, Hope Uzodinma.

Our correspondent reports that the latest suspension of the three lawmakers brings the number of suspended lawmakers to six.

The past Speaker, Paul Emeziem, a former deputy governor, Okey Onyekanma, and a former minority leader, Ekene Nnodimele, were slammed with indefinite suspension on November 8, the day Ibeh emerged as the speaker.

Suzan O. /Punch