Behind the scenes of the ex-Enugu dep. gov’s ‘trial’

By John Ogbonna The impeachment drama in Enugu State ended with the removal of Deputy Governor Sunday Onyebuchi and the appointment of Rev. Raphael Nwoye as his replacement. It was obvious from the beginning that the former deputy governor intended to make and indeed succeeded in making huge drama out of a matter that started as a private dialogue between him and his former boss, Governor Sullivan Chime. Immediately after being served the impeachment notice by the House of Assembly, he and his backers (including a prominent federal lawmaker) quickly appointed a select group of reporters in Enugu to rise in his defence. It has to be admitted that the group did quite a good job. Onyebuchi kept talking to the press, even as the panel of inquiry constituted by the Chief Judge of the state to investigate the charges against him was sitting. He granted interviews at the end of each sitting and told journalists even things he could not dare say before the panel. His gambit apparently was to whip up as much sympathy and cause such distraction and confusion as to compel the public to mount pressure on the House to drop the charges and let him remain in office. Onyebuchi’s antics could have been considered the natural reaction of a person trying to save his neck but for his employment of name calling and vile references all in the name of pressing his case. First, he claimed that his woes stemmed from his intention to contest the Enugu East senatorial seat which the Chief of Staff to the governor, Mrs Ifeoma Nwobodo, is also reported to be interested in. He said his removal was plotted to clear the way for the latter as he posed a major threat to her quest. But this claim was as laughable as it was false. Nobody heard that Onyebuchi was interested in the senatorial contest until his impeachment saga started. And till date nobody in Enugu East has come out to speak in support of the impeached deputy governor’s alleged senatorial ambition because it simply did not exist much less posing a threat to anyone. A statement by former Senate President Ken Nnamani, the highest political office holder from the zone, on this claim, is quite revealing. In an interview in Vanguard of 29th August, 2014, Nnamani said, “I am from that senatorial zone and the deputy governor is not a threat to anybody’s political ambition. He has never vied for councillorship, he has never vied for election before. All of a sudden, he thinks he has become a threat in a senatorial race, it is most unfortunate. I don’t think there is any relationship between his so-called ambition of wanting to become a senator and his predicament. I don’t see how he could have jumped and won a senatorial seat. Based on what? It is not possible. In a free and fair election, he cannot consider himself a threat to anyone”. Again, in his defence to the charge of running a commercial poultry in his official quarters at the Government House (in violation of the laws of the state), Onyebuchi claimed Governor Chime was running a bigger poultry in his own residence. To buttress this claim, he alleged that, in his capacity as acting governor (while Chime was on medical leave), he received and approved a memo from the Chief of Staff for the release of funds for the maintenance of the governor’s “ poultry and piggery”. It turned out that there was no such memo from the Chief of Staff and the former deputy governor could not produce a copy when challenged even where he admitted that copies of all the documents he attended to as acting governor were still in his custody. Indeed, Onyebuchi’s claim that the governor maintained a poultry was amply exposed as untrue by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Chukwudi Achife. “The deputy governor’s claims that Governor Chime runs a poultry in Government House is most unfortunate and surprising. This is because it is patently untrue. “The truth is that there is an Agric Unit in the Government House where livestock are bred for the use of the Government House. It has been in existence since the Government House was built and had served previous administrations in Enugu. It is neither commercially operated nor is it owned by the governor. “The unit is manned by civil servants including a veterinary doctor. Funds for its maintenance are provided for in the annual budget of government. The unit also serves the deputy governor. As a matter of fact, staff of the unit slaughtered a cow from the unit at the request of the deputy governor on August 4, 2014.” After his impeachment, Onyebuchi gloated in the fact that his impeachment was not linked to any financial crimes. Much as this is true, it should be noted that while he claimed that he was not assigned any protocol official by government, it was alleged before the panel that he was signing salaries and allowances for protocol officers since 2007. It was also alleged during the hearing that while he signed money for business class tickets each time he travelled, he bought economy class tickets. It was similarly alleged that there was no record that balance was ever returned. These allegations escaped public attention because the panel sat in camera. Onyebuchi’s side was, however, the only one being heard as he chose, in utter contempt of the panel, to rush to the press immediately after each sitting to tell his story in an effort to make a mess of the allegations against him. Indeed, the reportage of the case by a section of the press received knocks from the counsel to the House of Assembly, Nduka Ikeyi, who accused them of reporting” falsehood and conjectures”, adding that there was a deliberate effort to exclude reportage of allegations that knocked the bottom off the deputy governor’s defence. *Ogbonna lives in Enugu. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/behind-scenes-ex-enugu-dep-govs-trial/#sthash.1uemjDlk.dpuf