… says ‘I was detained many times for Okorocha’s offences’
- Madumere is an ingrate, gov replies
- N5m bribe-for-impeachment scam rocks Assembly
After examining the implications of felonious charges against the Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, 19 members of the state House of Assembly may have dropped the allegation to avoid implicating Governor Rochas Okorocha, The Point’s investigation has revealed.
Madumere would be the second deputy governor that Governor Okorocha had removed from office within the seven years of his administration. In his first term of office, Sir Jude Agbaso was impeached, having been accused of a N458 million bribe he allegedly collected from a construction company, JPROS, before awarding a contract to the construction company that couldn’t deliver.
Similarly, the embattled deputy governor, who had been having a running battle with his boss over the former’s governorship ambition in 2019, was, last Tuesday, accused of a four-count charge bearing on gross misconduct by 13 members of the Imo State House of Assembly, who initially signed his notice of impeachment.
Prince Eze Madumere, has never been convicted of any civil matter let alone a criminal matter. We are pained to state that the two times the Deputy Governor had to go through the pains of losing his freedom in detention were all in the course of saving Owelle Rochas Okorocha from public disgrace
Among the offences slammed against the embattled deputy governor is that he concealed ‘a felonious conduct’.
The lawmakers particularly averred that during his presentation as an eligible candidate for the Office of the Deputy Governor, Madumere failed to disclose that he was convicted and imprisoned for theft in the United States.
As weighty as the crime appears, the deputy governor, through his response, said he was not guilty of all the allegations “but merely stooped to save the governor from humiliation.”
But 19 out of the 27 lawmakers, during their sitting on the issue, insisted he had a case to answer.
After deliberations, the Speaker, Acho Ihim, set up a six-man panel to investigate the allegations and directed it to report back to the House within seven days.
Curiously, the ad hoc committee, led by Kennedy Ibeh (Obowo), submitted the panel’s report within 48 hours, a situation which some insiders said had been predetermined.
The speed, according to sources close to the House, may have boosted speculations in some quarters that Governor Okorocha had allegedly earlier doled out N5million to each of the lawmakers to facilitate the impeachment deal.
It was gathered that N2million part-payment, out of the N5million allegedly intended for the lawmakers to sign Madumere’s impeachment notice, might have been released to each beneficiary.
Sources also said to fast-track the booting-out of Madumere, the Speaker, Ihim, was allegedly promised the Office of the Deputy Governor, while Hon. Lugard Osuji, representing Owerri Municipal Council, who is said to be the governor’s Man Friday, was allegedly promised the post of Speaker of the state House of Assembly should they succeed in the impeachment plot against the Deputy Governor.
A source close to the House said that the way the panel submitted its report raised suspicion that the report had been written long ago.
“In fact, all things being equal, they have concluded to impeach the deputy governor tomorrow (Tuesday),” the source told our correspondent.
It was, however, learnt that the lawmakers were advised to be careful on the allegation that bordered on felonious charge.
Surprisingly, 19 out of the 27 members, who signed the impeachment move, dropped the felonious charge without giving reasons for the decision.
However, a source close to the House told our correspondent that far-reaching implications were considered before the lawmakers could drop the felonious charge to concentrate on the other charges.
The source said further that digging into the alleged crime would involve some technicalities, including sighting and citing of the court verdict on the case.
“We will also apply to the American Embassy to furnish us with details of the court verdict on the allegation, which may take a long process,” he said.
It was reliably gathered that the deputy governor did not actually commit the offence that took him to jail, but was allegedly incarcerated when he stood as surety for the governor in a failed contract deal in the US.
ON MANY OCCASIONS, I SUFFERED FOR OKOROCHA’S SINS – MADUMERE
Though the Special Assistant to the Deputy Governor on Media, Uche Onwuchekwa, was silent on the failed contract issue while responding to the charges of the lawmakers, he, however, described the felonious allegation as “most embarrassing and spurious.”
He said, “This is not only astonishing but an extreme show of lack of due diligence. The Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere, has never been convicted of any civil matter let alone a criminal matter.
“We are pained to state that the two times the Deputy Governor had to go through the pains of losing his freedom in detention were all in the course of saving Owelle Rochas Okorocha from public disgrace.”
According to him, the deputy governor rather had to carry Okorocha’s cross and bear his shame.
He recalled, “Prince Madumere, shortly after Achike Udenwa’s victory at the polls in 1999, had to face contempt of court charge for failure to make it to the court. He was also in detention in the United States for about one month, all because he was delayed by Governor Okorocha.”
He added that another instance was when Madumere had “to stoop” so that Okorocha might be spared the humiliation of getting incarcerated. Madumere, he said, yielded himself and was detained for almost two months on phony charges, which he also was absolved of, eventually.
The House, which deliberated on the report of the ad hoc committee, led by Kennedy Ibeh (APC Obowo) investigating the allegations, stated that the deputy governor had a “case to answer, given the weighty allegations against him.”
They recommended that the Speaker should request the Chief Judge of the state to appoint a panel of seven people of “unquestionable integrity” to investigate the allegations, pursuant to section 188 (6) of the 1999 Constitution.
Following votes in favour of the motion for the adoption of the report by the House, the Speaker called for a division whereupon members filed out to sign their assent to the recommendations of the report.
The reports showed that 19 members, including the Speaker, signed in favour of the recommendation, while eight members, including the five who had been suspended, following their refusal to participate in the impeachment, were absent from the proceedings.
NO GOING BACK ON IMPEACHMENT – SPEAKER
Speaking on the impeachment saga, the Speaker, Ihim (Okigwe, APC) told our correspondent that all the charges stood. “It is not to my knowledge that any of the charges has been dropped,” he said.
However, he added, “The Chief Judge has set up a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations and recommend back to the ad hoc committee that would take a final decision on the matter. It is no longer with us.”
When asked if the House had considered the negative effect of removing two deputy governors within seven years in the state, the Speaker said, “If involving in gross misconduct is negative, we cannot condone it because of negative sentiments.”
He also denied the issue of bribery, saying, “It is not to my knowledge that the governor gave us N5million each to impeach the deputy governor.”
Also speaking, the PDP lawmaker representing Aboh Mbaise State Constituency, Mike Iheanaetu, urged his colleagues to give the deputy governor a fair hearing, but, however, decried the disunity among the people of Owerri zone, where the deputy governor comes from.
He said, “I have no contrary opinion; the Imo State House of Assembly has taken a stand. But what will pain me is the process of removing the deputy governor. He should be given fair hearing.
“If you accuse a person, you should give him fair hearing to defend himself. Inasmuch as the Imo Assembly has embarked on investigating erring office holders, it must go round, irrespective of whose ox is gored,” he said.
It is the height of pettiness for the number two citizen of the state to begin to talk about the imaginary inconveniences he claimed he experienced during the political outings of his benefactor, but carefully skipped mentioning the avalanche or abundant favours, benefits, patronages and enviable uplifts he has enjoyed all these years
MADUMERE IS AN INGRATE – OKOROCHA
In responding to the accusation of unfair conduct raised against him by the deputy governor’s camp, Governor Okorocha, through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, said despite Okorocha’s various acts of charity towards Madumere, the Deputy Governor had been an ingrate by casting aspersions on his boss.
Onwuemedo responded, “He told the jaundiced stories of how he saved Governor Okorocha from ‘public disgrace’ and also ‘carried his cross and bore his shame’. He also talked about how he ‘stooped’ so that Governor Okorocha may be ‘spared the humiliation of getting incarcerated.
“In all these, the Deputy Governor could only talk about the minor fallouts of the 1999 election and perhaps, the incident that was also part of the 2011 election, when Governor Okorocha, who ran on the ticket of APGA, defeated the incumbent, Chief Ikedi Ohakim of the PDP.
“It is the height of pettiness for the number two citizen of the state to begin to talk about the imaginary inconveniences he claimed he experienced during the political outings of his benefactor, but carefully skipped mentioning the avalanche or abundant favours, benefits, patronages and enviable uplifts he has enjoyed all these years.”
According to him, the deputy governor has benefitted from the political successes of Governor Okorocha more than any other person.
The governor’s spokesman further said, “Without overstretching the debate, he was Chief of Staff, Government House, for two years. And from there, he became the Deputy Governor of the state. And he has occupied that position for almost six years now. It is, therefore, very difficult to explain any other way the governor could have expressed or demonstrated his unflinching love for Prince Madumere more than making him Chief of Staff, when he first came on board in 2011 as governor, and later made him the deputy governor of the state.
“Prince Madumere should have also told the world his principal’s sin against him for which he formed a staggering coalition against the latter, even as a sitting deputy governor. He should have told his listeners that the only known sin the governor committed against him was not choosing him as his preferred successor.”
He argued, “And since that is the case, it is left for the Deputy Governor and the motley group cheering him up against his boss to state whether the governor or governors are duty-bound or under any obligation to make their deputies their compulsory successors. Or whether all the governors that had governed in the past in this country had made their deputies their successors. If the answer is truthfully in the negative, then, Prince Madumere should count his teeth with his tongue.
“The issue is that, if the Deputy Governor, with all due respect, has not murdered his conscience; he should have, by now, realised that he has brought maggot infested log of firewood, and by doing so, has invited lizards to both lunch and dinner. It is a generational sin for one to bite the finger that has fed him or the finger that still feeds him.”
