Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Acho Ihim, has been suspended.
His suspension on Wednesday was effected by 21 out of the 27 lawmakers. They have also commenced plans to impeach the suspended Speaker.
They also announced the suspension of the Majority Leader , Lugard Osuji.
Ihim was suspended after adjourning the day’s plenary and escaping with the mace following his reading of a letter announcing the lifting of the suspension placed on the 27 Local Government chairmen by the state lawmakers last week.
Recall that the House had unanimously suspended the Chairmen for failing to honour invitations to appear before it to give account of how they managed the finances of their various local governments.
The 21 lawmakers immediately announced Chiendu Offor (Onuimo) of the Action Alliance as the interim Speaker and also elected Lloyd Chukwuemeka (Owerri North) as Majority Leader.
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The Acting Speaker, who addressed journalists, said that the 21 lawmakers had served impeachment notices on Ihim and Osuji.
Trouble started after the lawmakers raised objection to the letter announcing the lifting of the suspension of the 27 LGA chairmen.
The lawmakers quoted Order 15 of the House Rule, which empowered lawmakers to make contributions to issues before the Speaker rules, but he overruled them saying no lawmaker was allowed to contribute to the matter.
Ihim, in a bid to frustrate his colleagues from removing him, had allegedly directed his aides to cut off power supply to the complex but that did not deter the angry lawmakers from him and the Majority Leader.
