Enugu Assembly To Sanction Udenu Council Boss

Enugu State House of Assembly may sanction the Chairman of Udenu Local Government Area, Ignatius Eze, for failure to appear before its Committee on Local Government and State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSEIC) on Wednesday.

Administrator of the newly created Udenu Development Area, Dr. Okey Ugwu, had petitioned Enugu State House of Assembly over an assault on him by soldiers whom he claimed, were carrying out the orders of the council boss.

The Speaker, Eugene Odoh, had referred the matter to the Cletus Enebe Committee on Local Government and ENSEIC, which swiftly extended invitations to both the petitioner (Ugwu) and the Chairman (Eze)

But while Ugwu appeared before the committee at 10am as ordered by the committee, Eze appeared much later when members of the committee had dispersed after the day's sitting.

All efforts by the council chairman to get the audience of the committee proved abortive as at the time the report was filed, even as one of the lawmakers confided in the reporter that the House was not handling the matter with kid gloves.

"His fate would be decided on Tuesday, September 9, when the House reconvenes. We invited him to answer the allegation against him but he did not come. By 10am, when we invited them to our committee rooms, the administrator was there but the chairman was nowhere to be found," the legislator said.

Reminded that Eze came to the House much later, the source said that his appearance outside the stipulated time, was belated and of no effect and would not be considered by the House in taking its decision.

In the petition dated August 15, 2008, Ugwu (administrator) alleged that he was thoroughly beaten up and tortured by the soldiers who also flogged him and one of his aides with horsewhips (koboko) while performing their lawful duties.

The petition reads in part: "I, Dr. Daniel Okey Ugwu, the administrator of Udenu Development Area formally forward this complaint of beating and torture meted out to me by Udenu Local Government Chairman, Dr. Ignatius Eze using the soldiers on the patrol team of Obollo Afor.

"It was on the 8th of August, 2008 that we commenced for the very first time the collection of council revenue within my Development Area as contained in section 7 (4) of the Enugu State Development Area Law, 2007.

"It was big surprises that as soon as we took off, I saw soldiers stationed at Obollo Afor for crime control job descend on me, my Development Area Committee member, Mr. Sylvester Ugwu, whom I appointed to oversee revenue/finance, with their lashes (koboko) and beat us thoroughly," Ugwu said.