Leadership (Abuja)
Larry Onwuta
12 November 2007
Abuja — Following the face-off between the executive arm of the government and Water Corporation in Anambra State, former Nigeria Bar Association chairman, Onitsha branch, Barrister Chuka Obele Chuka has called for the removal of Governor Peter Obi for non-payment of 42 months' salary arrears to the staff of the state water corporation. He said the state assembly should begin his impeachment procedure.
Barrister Chuka said that the call was necessary because of the non- payment of workers' salaries when the budgetary allocation of N805m had been made and spent without accountability, adding that it amounts to gross misconduct.
He stated this while expressing his feelings at the Legislative chambers of the Anambra State House of the Assembly on the plight of the workers of the corporation.
The human rights activist noted that "nobody is bigger than Anambra State, including Peter Obi , Virgy Etiaba, commissioners and special advisers, as the penalty is impeachment. If the House follows section 188 of the constitution, they will have my full support, the special advisers and commissioners can be dismissed by the person who appointed them, so they can put their office out of existence," he stated.
Answering questions on whether or not the call can cause another political crisis in the state, Barrister Obele Chuka said, "if the Anambra State House of Assembly adhered strictly to section 188 of constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, not even a court of law could interfere."
"Peter Obi has to go if he does not want to pay the workers of the water corporation. He made the pledge to the people of that he would not owe any worker one month's salary, but today he is owing more that 12 months salary arrears and backlog of about 40 months salary arears.
"Governor Peter Obi collected about N5 billion from the federal government as reimbursement for those Ngige gripe, since government is a continuum. I have said it times without number that Obi is not doing the people any favour," Barrister Chuka Obele affirmed.
"The House took into consideration before approving that budget, the past accumulated pension areas of N511m before they approved N805m and it included these arrears. Why must the government keep this money in the bank and which account is the money being kept, was it invested and what is the profit?"
The human rights lawyer noted that the employees of the corporation were not hired, stating that Peter Obi has his own arears from March 2006, when he assumed office as the governor of the state.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
