PHALGA Legislature Moves To Impeach Mayor

Two weeks after the impeachment of the Leader of the Legislative Assembly of the Port Harcourt City Council, Mr Kingsly Owhonda Amadi, the councilors may have concluded plan to commence the process of impeachment on the Mayor of Port Harcourt, Hon Chimbiko Iche Akarolo.

The move to impeach Hon Akarolo, The Tide  learnt, was as a result of an alleged implication of the council Chairman’s involvement with the impeached Leader to allegedly defraud  the Council.

The Tide gathered that the Chairman, who got the hint of his impeachment, used armed police men to disrupt the sitting of the councilors last Monday.

Sources hinted The Tide that due to the disruption of the sitting, 18 out of 20 councillors petitioned the Chairman to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to explain how the sum of N77 million budgeted for Functional Committee in 2011 was spent.

The Tide was informed that the Chairman also allegedly embezzled the sum of N800,000 earmarked for celebrations of the first 28 days in office of the councilors.

He also refused to purchase official cars for the Deputy Chairman and the Councilors, and allegedly bought a BMW Jeep worth over N7 million for the impeached Leader.

The Councilors further alleged that after nine months in office, the Chairman has not executed any project and was unable to meet with the legislators.

When contacted, the Acting Leader, Linda Amadi, confirmed that there is crisis between the legislative and the executive arms over the impeachment of the former leader.

The Press Secretary to the Chairman, Mr Bonigo Elenwo,  when contacted, denied any problems between the legislature and the executives.

Speaking with The Tide the Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Rivers State Police Command,  Mr Ben Egwugbulem said he was  not aware of any case  reported by the chairman against the councilors. He however, promised to find out.

It would be recalled that the crisis in the council started a fourthnight ago  when Mr Eduranee Elenwo, Councilor Ward 14, presented a petition and motion against Hon Kengsly Owhonda Amadi over an alleged fraud, moving for his impeachment, for which the House adopted the motion and impeached Mr Owhonda.

The impeachment of Owhonda did not go down well with the Chairman, Hon Akarolo, who demanded that the councilors must reinstate the impeached leader. Since then, the two arms of the council have been at daggers drawn.

After several efforts to contact Hon Chimbiko Akarolo on phone failed, he later sent an SMS to this reporter that he was not aware of the impeachment process against him, and directed this reporter to the Clark of the House. Several attempts to contact the clark of the house yielded no result.