Confusion in Enugu North Council as Chairman, Hon Emeka Ede ,and Leader, Hon Kate Ayogu dare Court… Swears in Afam Nwankwoani
The Chairman Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State, Hon.
Emeka Ede and the Leader of the Enugu North Local
Government Legislative
Council, Hon. Kate Ayogu
may soon be telling the
Court why they should
not be held liable of contempt of court.
This is because, the Enugu North Legislative Council
with the consent of
the execute arm of the local government on Tuesday
sworn in Mr. Afam
Nwankwoani as the Councilor representing Ogui New
Layout in Enugu North
Local Government Area of Enugu State instead of Hon.
Kingsley Ekelozie
who was re-elected by the people of his constituency
in December 2013 to
represent them for the second time even when there
is a pending matter
before an appeal court in the state.
It will be recalled that the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) led Enugu
State made a proclamation to return all the Council
Chairmen alongside
their Councilors except for a few of them who did
not live up to the
expectation of the government and the electorates
who voted them into
office.
It will also be recalled that Hon. Kingsley Ekelozie
was one of the
lucky Councilors who found favour with the State
government as well as
his constituents as he was returned to continue to
represent the people
of Ogui New Layout for the second tenure
unfortunately, he was not sworn
in for the second term by the Council Chairman
alongside his colleagues
in the legislative council on the ground that there
was a case of
certificate forgery brought against him.
Eventually, the matter was heard at the level of the
Election Petition
Tribunal where Hon. Ekelozie lost and proceeded to
the appeal court for
a final verdict. But while the appeal court is yet
to take a decision on
the matter, the legislative council on Tuesday sworn
in Mr. Afam
Nwankwoani as the substantive Councilor representing
Ogui New Layout
Ward.
Reacting to the development, Hon. Ekelozie expressed
surprise at the
development wondering who gave the Council Chairman
the instruction to
swear in somebody in his stead when the matter was
pending before an
appeal court.
Hon. Ekelozie told Primetime Reporters that the
local government boss
was fighting him because he (Ekelozie) failed to
support his second term
bid as the Chairman of the Council in the last
election.
On why he refused to support his second term bid,
Ekelozie said,” the
issue was that he wanted to remove our majority
leader without any
reason and I don’t even know that he had a hand in
that but one of our
colleagues stood up and moved a motion for the
removal of the majority
leader. I asked the guy why we should remove our
majority leader. He
said the guy was starching his clothes and that he
was too pompous”.
“I told the guy that that was not enough reason to
remove our majority
leader, that was not an issue, that he should look
for something better
to discuss. Then somebody in the House stood up and
moved a motion for
my own suspension for this thing I told you now and
our leader seconded
it. They suspended me for five months. They were
just four out of
thirteen; they were not even in the majority to move
motion for my
suspension. So the majority was telling them that I
cannot be suspended.
They approached the Chairman and he stopped my
salary, seized my five
months salary with all my entitlements and
allowances”.
“So, on his own re-election bid, I said I will not
support him, that
nothing will make me to support him. After the whole
election, he
started fighting me, even the day I was going to
submit my file to the
State Party House, he sent our local government
party chairman to our
party house, he (Local Government Party Chairman)
told them that they
should not collect my file that the local government
chairman said that
I was not going back. The people then told him to go
and tell the local
government chairman that he was not the right person
to tell them who to
collect file from and who not to collect file from.
Look at now, the
matter is still in court and he went on and swears
somebody in”.
He recalled that after the election and he was
re-elected by his
constituents, Hon. Ede had to sponsor somebody to go
to the tribunal to
contest that he was not the right candidate even
when the Party returned
all the former councilors.
“So, after that, he went to court, the court told
him that all the
councilors were returned back. He then went to the
extreme, to where I
kept my file, picked my result and sent that person
back that it was
forged result that I used as in my B.Sc. So, we are
still in court, I
heard yesterday that he went on to swear somebody
in. I just decided to
sit down and watch because I have complained to the
friends I have, they
said I should exercise patience”.
“The case is still going on in the court of appeal,
the young man went
ahead and swear somebody in telling them that they
had an election and
that guy was elected. There was no place that they
conducted election.
PDP was busy campaigning for the general election,
they don’t have time
for ward election now”, he said.
When asked if there was any time his seat was
declared vacant by the
legislative council, he denied any knowledge of such
development saying
that there was never a time such a thing happened.
On what next for him to do, he answered,” as am
talking to you now, I am
driving straight to the ENSIEC (Enugu State
Independent Electoral
Commission) so that let me just confirm whether or
not ENSIEC is aware
of the development because I am just surprised. How
can he just wake up
and swear in somebody? Let me just find out from
ENSIEC whether any
other person gave him the authority to do that”.
He further hinted that he had instructed his lawyer
to file a contempt
of court charge against Hon. Ede and the leadership
of the legislative
council to press for his rights.
When asked the position of his ward chairman on the
whole issue, he told
Primetime Reporters that, “he is among them now,
everybody that the
chairman (Hon. Ede) pays salary cannot even support
me because all of
them are just running for their heads because if you
should dare stand
by me, he will stop your salary”.
When contacted, the leader, Enugu North Legislative
Council, Hon. Kate
Ayogu asked, please why can’t you ask my boss?
When Primetime Reporters sought to know if she was
referring to the
Council Chairman, Hon. Ede as her boss, she
answered,” Yes! Ask the
local government chairman, he is in a position to
answer any question”.
Even when Primetime Reporters tried to remind her that the said
development was not in the Executive arm but in the
Legislative arm thus
the principle of separation of powers, she
insisted,” No! He knows
better than me. I am under him; I am just an
ordinary councilor please.
I am under him. I think you should understand my
position. Please you
ask my chairman abeg. That is my take on it”.
All efforts made by Primetime Reporters to get the
views of the local
government chairman, Hon. Emeka Ede did not yield
any result as he failed to answer all the calls put across to him as well as to
reply a text message sent across to him.
From www.odogwublog.com
fan in Enugu
Confusion in Enugu North Council as Chairman, Hon Emeka Ede ,and Leader, Hon Kate Ayogu dare Court… Swears in Afam Nwankwoani
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Friday, March 20, 2015
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