Former leaders and senior executives of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Mines, Industry and Agriculture (PHCCIMA) are seeking the removal of its President, Dr Chinyere Nwoga, over allegations that she secretly set up and joined a rival chamber.

But Nwoga has denied any wrongdoing.

The demand followed a stormy expanded council meeting in Port Harcourt.

The aggrieved members alleged that Nwoga and others registered the Greater Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce without the approval of PHCCIMA’s council, executive committee or members, using the chamber’s resources and identity.

They also alleged that the new body obtained recognition from the national chamber without PHCCIMA’s approval.

They want the First Deputy President to take over pending an investigation.

A former PHCCIMA president and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Coalition of South-South Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Billy-Gillis Harry, said a competing chamber could not be allowed within the 69-year-old organisation’s jurisdiction. He said the recognition was obtained in error and would be challenged. He added that the council had moved a motion for Nwoga’s impeachment and the appointment of the First Deputy President in an acting capacity.

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“If she refuses to step aside, the law will take its course,” Harry said.

The Financial Secretary and immediate past Treasurer, Chief Emmanuel Ogbonda, alleged that Nwoga used the chamber’s materials in setting up the new body. He said he had documents showing her as its first director and that she paid two years’ subscription.

Nwoga rejected the allegations, saying her membership of another chamber was not misconduct. She challenged her accusers to cite any provision of the PHCCIMA constitution barring a sitting president from belonging to another chamber.

“Is there anything in the constitution of the chamber that says if you are a president, sitting president, you cannot belong to another chamber?” she asked.

She alleged that Harry had earlier championed the registration of other chambers, including the Kalabari and Degema chambers of commerce.

The dispute pits the factions against each other over the legality of the alleged rival chamber, the council’s authority and the president’s constitutional powers. (The Nation)