Kogi State House of Assembly, yesterday, initiated moves to impeach the state’s Deputy Governor, Elder Simon Achuba.
The impeachment move was sequel to a petition by 21 out of the 25 lawmakers. The deputy governor had been at loggerheads with the Governor, Yahaya Bello, for a while.
Reading the petition on the floor, Majority leader of the House, Hassan Bello (Ajaokuta APC) hinged the petition on three grounds of criminal indulgence, financial misappropriation and non-performance.
The petition also alleged that the committee, set-up by the Kogi State Government to look into the Iyano crises in Ibaji local government (Achuba’s Council area), made some findings that indicted the deputy governor over his actions in relation to the escalation of the crisis.
The majority leader said the allegations, actions and utterances of the deputy governor in recent weeks amounted to gross misconduct, citing Section 188 of 1999 Constitution to back up the stand of the Assembly to commence the impeachment process.
He prayed the House to commence investigation towards the impeachment move against the deputy governor. The Speaker, Kolawole Matthew, first called out the name of the petitioners to affirm if the signatures were truly theirs, and all the 21 members present answered in the affirmative, one after the other.
Kolawole, thereafter, agreed to the prayers in the petition and directed that it be served on the deputy governor, for him to respond within the 14 days time frame of the law.
