My Purported Impeachment Was A Nullity...Ortom

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has reacted to the report of the impeachment notice served him by eight members of the State’s House of Assembly on Monday.

Crisis in the State House of Assembly took a new turn on Monday as eight lawmakers served an impeachment notice on the governor.

The lawmakers, Adanyi Benjamin, Terhemba Chabo, Benjamin Nungwa, Bem Mngutyo, Adams Okloho, James Okefe and Nick Eworo were among members that moved for the governor’s impeachment.

The plot was coordinated by Terkimbi Ikyange who was removed as speaker of the Assembly last week.

Speaking on the development through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, Ortom said he was still the governor of the State, adding that the lawmakers lack the constitutional powers to remove him from office.

He said, “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.”