Imo Deputy Governor Prince Eze Madumere has been removed from office. Madumere was impeached yesterday by 19 of the 37 members of state House of Assembly.
He was immediately replaced by the Head of Service, Mr Calistus Okenze.
The impeachment was perfected few hours after the ruling of a state High Court by Justice Ben Iheka which restrained the legislators and the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Paschal Nnadi, from any further moves regarding the impeachment process, pending the hearing and determination of the matter.
The House took the decision following the recommendations of the ad hoc committee led by Kennedy Ibeh (Obowo APC) investigating the allegations.
The report of the committee which was considered during a committee of the whole House stated that Madumere failed to appear before the committee to clear his name in spite of being served on several occasions.
The deputy governor was accused of abandoning his official duties for three months without reasons or official permission; failure to perform constitutional duties like attending state exco and state security council meeting, failure to attend meetings with the governor and other government functionaries and alleged “concealment of felonious act in the United States.”
Madumere became deputy governor in 2013 after Jude Agbaso was impeached for alleged corrupt practices. Okorocha picked him once again in 2015 but they parted ways many months ago when the impeached deputy governor indicated interest in vying for the governorship in 2019 in defiance to Okorocha’s endorsement of his son-in- law, Uche Nwosu.
