Gov Ortom Reacts To Impeachment Move Against Him

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has laughed off the impeachment notice issued against him on Monday by a paltry section of the State’s House of Assembly.

Eight lawmakers had amidst tight security held a sitting today at the State’s Assembly Complex, but only six of them reportedly consented to the impeachment of Governor Ortom.

The lawmakers – Adanyi Benjamin, Terhemba Chabo, Benjamin Nungwa, Bem Mngutyo, Adams Okloho, James Okefe and Nick Eworo – were reportedly led by the Assembly’s ousted Speaker, Terkimbi Ikyange.

In his reaction to the impeachment notice signed by the scanty Assembly members, Governor Ortom, through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, said he remains Benue’s Chief Security Officer.

The statement read, “Ortom is still the Chief Executive of the State. You can’t just impeach a Governor in a flash. You have to go through all the legal and constitutional processes.

“They have not been able to form a quorum, so it is not possible. Only eight people served the governor the notice, even at that, 2 other members who were part of the cangaroo sitting were on the side of the governor, so how can anybody call that an impeachment notice. It’s laughable and must be ignored completely.

“And for the record, there is a court injunction restricting the impeached Speaker from parading himself as the Speaker of the House and that court injunction has not been vacated.

“He has been suspended for 6 months, he doesn’t have any constitutional right to go back to that Assembly.

“He has done nothing to vacate that injunction so whatever he did stands null and void,” said Akase.

Meanwhile, the move to impeach Ortom is coming about one week after the governor defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The chairmen of thirteen out of twenty there local governments in the state were said to have also dumped the APC in show of loyalty to the governor.