By Okey Alozie
There was mild drama at court 8, of the Imo State High Court, when the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice of the State, Barr Miletus Nlemadim and a Senior Legal Practitioner, Ken Njemanze (SAN) engaged in verbal cross fire as the hearing for the case embattled Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere instituted against process for his impeachment began.
The climax of the case which came up on Monday before Justice Iheaka adjourned till next Monday was the exchange of words related to their positions on the matter.
Njemanze, the lead counsel for Madumere, has chided Nlemadim over his alleged role in the purported impeachment plot.
He expressed disappointment over the role played by the Attorney General who was present in court on July 30, 2018 where the presiding Judge, Justice Benjamin Iheka granted explicit order, in the morning, restraining the Chief Judge of the State, Hon. Justice Paschal Nnadi, the Speaker with other members of Imo House of Assembly and members of 7-Man Panel of Inquiry, from any further action pertaining to the impeachment proceeding of Prince Madumere but was informed at about 6 hours later that the members of Imo State House of Assembly had gone ahead with the purported impeachment of the Deputy Governor over frivolous allegations.
His words: “I am disappointed that Attorney-General, Hon. Miletus Nlemadim who should know the law and advised the House of Assembly appropriately but flagrantly allowed the House to do the wrong thing, thereby disobeying the Orders of the Court. It is very unfortunate that that he was in court and allowed such illegality.”
However, the lead Counsel to the Plaintiff, Chief Njemamze (SAN), submitted that he had served motion experte on the respondents to appear in court to say what they know about the purported impeachment proceeding despite a subsisting court Order.
In response, Nlemadim told Njemanze that he is not the kind of lawyer that plays to the “gallery” adding that when the time comes, the facts will speak for itself.
In defense, Hon Nlemadim, prayed that some of the respondents had not received the motion summoning them to appear before the court.
It was revealed that respondents 4 to 8 were yet to have been served due to non-identification of the contact points.
Against this backdrop, Chief Njemanze prayed that the respondents in question will be served by substituted means through the Office of the Chief Judge since they are members of the 7 Man Panel constituted by the Chief Judge.
The presiding Judge, Hon. Justice Iheka however adjourned the matter to August 20, 2018 to enable all parties involved in the matter be served appropriately.
Speaking to Trumpeta after the court session, Nlemadim said “we obeyed court order. Order 39 of Imo High Court Rule has it that order of injunction made expertez can only last for 7 day therefore the order has elapsed on its own from July 30 to August 13 is more than 7 days, therefore, “the senior learned council cannot accuse my client of breaching the order”. He further said that he submitted that the court cannot stop impeachment.
He maintained that section 188 of the constitution stated that no court has the jurisdiction to stop impeachment.
Meanwhile, the office of the Deputy Governor has lambasted governor’s media aide for misrepresenting the impeachment court orders.
According to a statement by Uche Onwuchekwa, SA media to the Deputy Governor, “It has come to the knowledge of the Office of the Deputy Governor of Imo State, the contemptuous diatribe contained in a press release issued by no other a person than the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Imo State, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo published on page 5 of his Whitepaper of Friday, August 10th, 2018 edition, paragraph 7, where he declared that the Office of the Deputy Governor is vacant since the occupant of the said office has already been impeached.
“It is on record that Mr. Onwuemeodo in his recklessness in trying to weep more than the bereaved did not stop at this, he went further to declare Mr. Ekenze Calistus the Deputy Governor of Imo State. He further stated that Mr. Ekenze’s swearing-in will surely take place as soon as the court order is vacated.
“Our worry, certainly, is not how our Governor’s Media Manager chose to do his job, which apparently must have been in accordance to the description of his duties, but the impression the careless statement would have made in the minds of unsuspecting Imolites and Nigerians at large.
“We wish to state categorically that it is contemptuous for Governor’s Media handler to lie over a court verdict and worse still take such lies to the public spheres.
“For the umpteenth time, we wish to remind Onwuemeodo and his co-travelers that the incumbent Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere, never sought an order of the court to stop a swearing-in ceremony the Calistus Ekenze. The Deputy Governor as a man who believes in Rule of Law rather than take laws into his hands over the rascality of some of the agents of government, had approached the court of competent jurisdiction through his Counsel, Chief Ken Njemanze (SAN) for a redress over constitutional breaches on the said impeachment process.
“There was an Originating Summon with a suit number How/565/2018; Eze Madumere V Chief Judge of Imo State and 9 others with another motion on notice for interlocutory injunction, challenging the constitutional breaches vis-a-vis the said impeachment procedures which were observed in breach.
“In a court sitting on July 30th, 2018 in High Court 8, Imo State High Court, presided by Hon. Justice Benjamin Iheka, after adopting submissions of the Counsels representing the Speaker and members of Imo State House of Assembly, Attorney-General of Imo State with the presence of one of the panelists, a court order was granted restraining the Chief Judge, Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly, 7 man panel of inquiry from any further action in connection with impeachment procedure against the Deputy Governor until the determination of the matter before it.
“May we remind Onwuemeodo that his lying tongue and misrepresentation of facts is not only subjudiced but very contemptuous.
“Again while we appreciate opinions of legal luminaries and other authorities whose take on the matter have largely remained consistent with the spirit of the law of the land and the constitution, we call on the general public to disregard Onwuemeodo’s mischief borne out of malice and periodic hallucination.
“The Deputy Governor, Prince Madumere will continue to conduct himself decorously with high level of civility. He has vowed to, not only to remain steadfast but to also use his wealth of experience towards building Imo of collective dream and uplifting the living standard of the populace.
“We wish to assure the citizens of the State that Prince Madumere has vowed to assiduously towards the enthronement of justice, equity and fair play as conceived by our fore-bearers so as to create Imo where brotherly love, peace and tranquility reign supreme”.
