Akomas in the Lions Den

Chris Akomas

Abia State House of Assembly serves Deputy Governor, Chris Akomas with an impeachment notice, as Governor Theodore Orji accuse him of disloyalty
By Oji Odu
It has been drama and intrigues following the commencement of the impeachment process of the Deputy Governor of Abia State, Comrade Chris Akomas by the Abia State House of Assembly. He was accused of gross misconduct in the execution of his duties as the number two citizen of the state among other allegations.
The impeachment notice on Akomas dated July 7,2010 and signed by 21 of the 24-member Abia State legislature was moved by Uzor Azubuike, member representing Abia Central Constituency.
The legislators in the six-count charge of gross misconduct alleged that the deputy governor “willfully absented himself from office and duty without any lawful excuse or permission” even though he was not on official leave.
The Source learnt that the official duties which the deputy governor absented himself from include an official ceremony at the State Executive Council (SEC) chambers for the signing of the 2010 Appropriation Bill, as well as the official welcome ceremony for Governor Orji into the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Further, Akomas was alleged to have, between January 2009 and March 2010, “unlawfully converted public funds to his personal use by causing and/or directing proceeds from official cheques meant for government work to be paid into his private bank account.”
The Abia lawmakers also alleged that the embattled deputy governor sabotaged the good works and name of the Orji administration by openly discrediting and disassociating himself from it when he said that the government was a failure as the only tangible achievement in the past three years was in the area of cocoa production which is under his office.
The Source’s findings trace the escalation of the face-off between Akomas and his boss, Orji, to a long-standing desire to upstage his principal and refusal to decamp to APGA. On July 2, Governor Orji was welcomed to APGA by the party’s board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and Victor Umeh, the Party’s National Chairman , and issued APGA membership card number 68812.
Notedly, this action by Akomas did not go down well with Governor Orji and his loyalists, leading the governor, penultimate week, to accused him (Akomas) of disloyalty, including planning to oust him from office and take over his job.
Orji, who recently opened up on the strained relationship with his deputy, said he would function without a deputy governor, while expressing surprise that Akomas could spearhead his overthrow from office after pledging earlier at Isieke, the ancestral home of Ibeku, Umuahia, to be totally loyal to him.
While addressing his kinsmen who had come on a solidarity visit under the aegis of Ibeku Egwuasa Development Association (IEDA), Governor Orji said that until he decamped to APGA, he was loyal to his political godfather, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and was always asked to go and sit down whenever he challenged any decisions.
Explaining further, he told journalists in Umuahia that Akomas's statement in one of the dailies that the structure would determine whether he would contest the governorship position in the 2011 elections instead of making a clear statement, together with his refusal to decamp with him fueled the crisis, as it showed disloyalty.
Orji: “My deputy is not a loyal deputy for sure. He’s been trying to push me away. He wants to take over my seat but that won’t happen.”
The face-off between Governor Orji and Akomas is notably one of feuds between state governors and their deputies in recent times in Nigeria. In Bayelsa State, the feud led to the impeachment of the deputy governor, Peremobowei Ebebi, popular as Odudu.
Ebebi had in November 2009, led a protest against Governor Timipre Sylva over the outcome of the primaries for the Local Government elections in Ekeremor Local Government Area. Ebebi had further granted an interview carpeting his boss, while boasting that the state House of Assembly could not impeach him. But he was wrong as he was in June 2010 impeached by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly for gross misconduct, and all his efforts to be reinstated through a recent court judgement has not succeded.
However, the face –off between Governor Orji and his deputy it seems, is tilting towards the outcome of the Bayelsa case with 21 of the 24 state legislators favourning the impeachment of Akomas, although Orji claims he could do without a deputy but for the provisions in the constitution that provides for it.