The Imo State House of Assembly has impeached the State's Deputy Governor, Jude Agbaso.
Twenty five of the 26 lawmakers in the Assembly voted in favour of the impeachment.
The Assembly had served Mr. Agbaso a notice of impeachment over the allegation that he demanded and collected N458 million bribe from J-PROS Limited, a construction firm handling the rehabilitation of Sam Mbakwe Road in Owerri, the state capital.
Mr. Agbaso denied the allegation and prayed the Federal High Court in Owerri to suspend the impeachment process, saying he was not allowed fair hearing.
The court declined, even as an ad-hoc committee set up by the Assembly to investigate the embattled deputy governor had already indicted him.
After majority of the lawmakers endorsed the deputy governor's impeachment, the House asked the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Benjamin Njemanze, to constitute a seven-man panel to re-investigate the N458 million contract scam as provided in Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The House removed Mr. Agbaso based on the report of the panel.
There are suggestions in some quarters in Imo State that Governor Rochas Okorochas was behind the ordeals of his deputy, an allegation the governor has repeatedly denied.
More details later…
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