It has become necessary to respond to the series of guesses being propounded by the people as reasons for the events at Abia State House of Assembly in the last few days. These hunches are admissible given that in a democracy that people are allowed to express their minds freely and without let or hindrance.
However, the untold reason why members moved against the leadership of Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike was irredeemable loss of confidence in his ability to continue as the Speaker of the 6th Assembly. This rejection cut across the two political parties in the House. Members individually and collectively expressed concerns relating to his style of leadership which annihilated more than it united members. Truth again, the impeachment of 29th December 2016 was not the first, second or third attempt at removing the Speaker not on ethnic or clanish sentiment towards removing the Governor as brandished by leaders of Ukwa/Ngwa block .
At the heat of this whole saga, members rebuffed the Speaker who I must admit did so much to reach out to them. These members’ expression of rage heightened as they did not think he would be kind enough to keep to his promise of being a better leader having failed same promises in the previous attempts.
It is important to note that all 24 members of the House are qualified to be Speaker.
At any time however, members would prefer to entrust their leadership in that person who would eschew arrogance, autocracy and demonstrate inclusiveness in his approaches.
For those who think that his eventual impeachment was a grand plot to uncover some other ulterior motives, they should please note that what happened was purely an internal issue relating to confidence.
The Abia House of Assembly maintain an excellent and cordial relationship with Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and do not have any reason to work against him.
The sudden change of leadership after the removal of Rt. Hon. Azubuike had nothing to do with such speculated grand plans. Rt. Hon. Kennedy Njoku who replaced Martins resigned for personal reasons. His resignation may have been in line with the PDP’s respect for laid down procedures for the equitable sharing of power. Rt. Hon. Njoku remains committed to the development of the House and expressed so even after his resignation.
Shortly after the resignation of Rt. Hon. Njoku, members unanimously elected Rt. Hon. Chikwendu Kalu, member representing Isiala Ngwa South as Speaker. Fair enough, the new Speaker has not in any away distorted the party’s zoning arrangement as he is from the same zone and constituency with the former Speaker.
Rt. Hon. Cosmos Ndukwe Ph.D
Deputy Speaker
Chairman, Media and Publicity
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