The impeachment of the former Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Goodluck Opiah, has been described as illegal, unlawful, null and void.
Opiah, his deputy, Sir Jonas Okeke, and other principal officers were impeached on May 31, 2011.
The Chief Judge of Imo State, Justice Ben Njemanze, ruled that the impeachment did not follow due process. “In fact, the process abused the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. While a section of the Constitution entitles the legislators to certain actions, their actions should not run foul of the laws of the land and in contrast to laid down procedures for impeachment of Assembly officers.
“Those who undertook the said impeachment went through illegal processes by failing to gather the necessary ingredients needed for the removal of a principal officer of the House. The impeachment is, therefore, null, void and of no effect”.
Justice Njemanze awarded N50,000 cost against the defendants in favour of the claimants.
He observed that the Onuora Olumba-led special committee did not only fail to invite anti-graft bodies to investigate the allegations against Opiah but also never waited for a report of any ad-hoc committee before going ahead with the impeachment.
“Since no committee was constituted to investigate the allegations levelled against the complaint, the defendants erred in their actions. Therefore, their action is illegal, null and void.”
