The Enugu State House of Assembly on Thursday confirmed the presiding Bishop of the Christ Ascension Church in Enugu, Rev. Raphael Ifeanyi Nwoye, as the new deputy governor for the state.
Until his nomination and clearance, Nwoye was the Bishop in charge of Christ Ascension Church, Ugwuaji, Enugu and a member of the Enugu State Pilgrims Welfare Board.
Bishop Nwoye is from Ishiogbo Nara in Nkanu East Local Government Area of the state, just as the ousted Deputy Governor, Sunday Onyebuchi.
He served as the Deputy Chairman of Nkanu East Council, Caretaker Committee chairman of the same council and also as Commissioner for the Environment under former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani administration.
Governor Sullivan Chime forwarded a letter to the state House of Assembly notifying it of the appointment of Nwoye as replacement for Onyebuchi, who was impeached on Tuesday.
To arrive at the choice, Chime said he consulted with the local government chairman, chairman of of the Peoples Democratic Party in the local government and stakeholders from Nkanu East Local Government Area.
Speaker of the House, Eugene Odo, read the governor’s letter on the floor of the House after a plenary that had earlier deliberated on the bill for the Control of Nomadic Cattle Rearing in Enugu State and Other Matters Related Thereto, 2014, which second reading was stepped down on Tuesday.
Odo told the House that the state would not operate in a vacuum without having a deputy governor since Onyebuchi had been impeached.
He said nature abhorred vacuum.
And barely 24 hours after Onyebuchi was removed from office by the state House of Assembly, heavily armed security operatives stormed his private residence at GRA, Enugu on Thursday to recover eight vehicles.
Five of the vehicles were those he used as his official convoy, while two others were his official cars from the previous administration.
The car officially allocated to his wife, Nneka Ada Onyebuchi, was also taken away.
His security aides were withdrawn shortly after he was impeached on Tuesday.
One of the personal aides to Onyebuchi, Onyeka Nnaji, said over 20 security operatives from the Government House, Enugu, led by the Chief Security Officer to the Governor, Fidelis Ogarabe, came to the residence to demand for keys to the vehicles.
Nnaji said the former deputy governor was not available when the CSO and his men came to the house but “when he was contacted, he directed that we should allow them take the vehicles and that we should not deny them access to the compound because he has nothing to hide”.
According to him, the vehicles removed from Onyebuchi’s residence included one Toyota Land Cruiser Sports Utility Vehicle, two Toyota Prado SUVs, two Toyota Hilux Pilot vehicles, two Peugeot 406 cars he used during his tenure as Commissioner for Works under the Chimaroke Nnamani administration and a Nissan Tiena car belonging to Mrs. Onyebuchi.
He said: “We are surprised by what is happening because we have never heard anywhere in this country where the official vehicle of an impeached elected public officer was recovered.
“It is strange and the former deputy governor will speak at the appropriate time.”
Efforts to speak with the ousted deputy governor on the development proved abortive as he did not pick his calls.
Meanwhile, the impeachment of the number two citizen in the state has continued to dominate discussions in public places., even as the people are eagerly waiting to know who the governor has nominated to occupy the vacant seat of the deputy governor.
Efforts to speak with officials of the government on the development also proved abortive as those contacted declined comment.
Vanguard.
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