The mantle of leadership of the Sixth Abia State House of Assembly, Thursday, fell on Bishop Kennedy Njoku, representing Osisioma North State Constituency, after his predecessor, Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike (Isiala Ngwa North) was impeached during an emergency plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Dr. Cosmos Ndukwe.

The impeachment exercise was concluded in 15 minutes with 20 Lawmakers out of the 24-member House participating.

The Deputy Leader of the House, Chief Solomon Akpulonu (Obingwa East Constituency), kick-started the business of the day with a matter of Urgent Public Importance by informing the House that 20 members have penned their signatures for the removal of the Speaker, Azubuike as they have lost confidence in his leadership.

Akpulonu, in moving a motion for the impeachment of Azubuike accused him of lacking character of transparency in handling the finances of the House, failing to ensure equitable distribution of positions and powers among members and being insensitive to the rights and needs of members and general staff of the assembly.

Akpulonu further said that his (Azubuike’s) autocratic practice has brought the Assembly on collision course with other arms of government and agencies of the state government; adding that he abused the office of the Speaker by using same for personal and private political interest.

“Therefore, pursuant to section 92 (2c) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, we the members of the House resolve to remove and hereby remove Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike as Speaker,” Akpulonu said. The motion was seconded by Ifeanyi Uchendu.

Deputy Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Cosmos Ndukwe, then asked and got the consent of the members to accept the impeachment issue as a Matter of Urgent Public Importance.

It was then that the clerk of the House Mr. John Pedro Irokansi, called for nominations from among the members present in order to elect a new speaker, saying that there was no provision for Acting Speaker. He announced that the voting procedure was Option A4 format and members merely raised their hands in support of their preferred candidate for the new Speaker.

During the election that followed, conducted by Mr. Irokansi, Njoku polled 16 votes to defeat Chief Chikwendu Kalu (Isialangwa South Constituency), who got three votes to emerge the new Speaker.

In his short acceptance speech, Njoku thanked God for making the day a reality and pledged to carry his colleagues along, adding that the House would focus on its primary function of making good laws.

Later in an interview, the new Speaker vowed to make transparency his watchword and promised to give every member a sense of belonging, while avoiding the banana peels that swept off his predecessor.

“People are expecting a lot from me. They are expecting good laws; that is our paramount job, nothing less than that. Transparency will be my watchword. On every road, there are always bumps. But careful drivers would always maneuvre through them. I am going to be very careful and maneuvre all the bumps,” Njoku assured.

In a brief interview with newsmen, Akpulonu also told newsmen that all efforts made to persuade Azubuike to change his autocratic leadership style failed, hence the decision to oust him.

News Express learnt that the outcome in the Assembly represented a disappointment to the powers that be who preferred Kalu as the new Speaker.

“Kalu was the preferred choice of the state Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, but the members thought otherwise and even the nominee did not vote for himself,” a source close to Government House said. It was observed during the plenary that only the Majority Leader and two others voted for Kalu.

The former Speaker had been faced with threats of impeachment on three occasions but had always managed to escape but he was not so lucky on this fourth attempt by the lawmakers whose anger boiled over.

A last ditch effort to save the former Speaker, it was gathered, was made by the Majority Leader, Chief Chinedum Orji, who strived to convince his colleagues to once more spare Azubuike but sources at the meeting told News Express that the former Speaker had snatched the mace while negotiations were still on, and thereafter left the Assembly premises and did not witness his impeachment.

According to our source, the former speaker “lost whatever sympathy that remained for him” when he snatched the mace hence there was no going back on his impeachment.

Efforts made to get Azubuike’s reaction on his removal was unsuccessful as he was said to have left his official lodge shortly before the arrival of newsmen.