It has been revealed that the period the last Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly, Hon Chinedu Offor, held sway may turn out a nullity.
It is possible that the actions of the Assembly during the period, May 28-June 1, may not stand.
Desperation orchestrated by vendetta can result to a costly blunder.
And there is no better way to describe the big gaffe that has enveloped and rubbished all the desperate moves by the just exited Imo legislators to get even with their former benefactor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
Imo people woke up one day in the last three weeks to witness a game of musical chairs in the legislature leading to the production of three Speakers in one week.
The House members had forced Rt. Hon Acho Ihim to resign leading to the emergence of Hon. Chinedu Offor as Protem Speaker.
Further events that played out saw Hon Lawman Duruji emerge as Speaker before he left for Hon Chinedu Offor to return as the substantive Speaker who held forte before the Assembly finally wound up Monday.
The Imo House of Assembly was seen generally in the eyes of Imo people as an appendage of the outgone Okorocha’s executive.
Some branded it toothless bulldog while yet others settled with calling them errand boys of the Oga at the top.
While Okorocha held sway, it was not known that there any feud between him and the legislators.
However, following his exit things suddenly began to fall apart. The once rated toothless bulldog suddenly developed teeth and went ‘gaga’ suddenly upturning and reversing most of the laws it had made and which got the blessing of Okorocha.
Tongues had wagged on what some political observers called political betrayal of Okorocha following the reversal of the laws. Some described the Assembly men as lacking in courage to engage Okorocha hence they chose to act in his absence.
Daily Nigerian Horn investigation revealed that what may have precipitated the action of the legislators is not unconnected with some suspected obligation owed them by the governor which he could not make good thus they chose to get even with him.
It would be recalled that in the last few days the IMHA had sacked the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission taking a swipe on the conduct of the last Council election, tinkered with the Governor’s and Speakers benefits, amended the LGA bills as well as the Imo Procurement Law among others.
They literally brought the hammer heavily on ORO.
In doing all of these however, they failed to amend the ranking rule which stipulates that the Speaker of the House of Assembly should be a ranking legislator.
All the Speakers that emerged after Acho Ihim under which the reversal actions occurred were all first time legislators.
Consequently, all the laws and amendments they have made so far including approvals of appointment are negated and have no force of law since ab ibnitio the presiding officer had no authority.
This has been described as a huge and costly gamble which in their desperation to undo the former governor they failed to realise.
Meanwhile, the activities of the 8th Assembly wound up Monday after a Valedictory session. The 9th Assembly is expected to be inaugurated tomorrow, 13th June 2019.
NIGERIAN HORN
