Gov Chime Returns Next Weekend

There were indications last night that Enugu State governor Sullivan Chime will arrive in the country next weekend after spending about four months abroad for medical treatment.
Though the state government never disclosed Chime’s health status to the public, it is believed that the governor is suffering from cancer. He is currently receiving treatment in London.
A source told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that Governor Chime will be coming back  to Nigeria next weekend.
Chime, who is serving his second tenure in office, left the country in September 2012 for medical attention; the state government claimed that he was only embarking on a six-week vacation.
But since he left the country last year, he had not been seen or heard of until last Tuesday when a syndicated photograph he took with three governors was released to media houses.
In the photograph, Chime was seen in the midst of three state governors: Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and Gabriel Suswam (Benue) while they were wearing winds heaters due to the cold weather in London.
But his prolonged absence has elicited mixed reactions among the citizens of the state. While some non-governmental organisations   including the Save Enugu Group (SEG) are calling for his impeachment on the grounds of overstaying his vacation and refusal to properly hand over to his deputy, some are of the opinion that he should be given the benefit of the doubt.
Chime had stirred the hornet’s nest on September 19, 2012, when he travelled out of the country after reportedly transmitting a letter to the state House of Assembly that he was proceeding on leave and handing over the reins of authority to his deputy, Sunday Onyebuchi.
The governor’s failure to return to office after six weeks led to speculations of ill-health and. But the Enugu State commissioner for information, Mr. Chuks Ugwoke,  claimed  that due process was followed by the governor in proceeding on what he called  “accumulated vacation”.
The speaker of the State House of Assembly, Eugene Odo, also rejected calls  by prominent citizens of the state under the aegis of Save Enugu Group (SEG) for the House to invoke the “Doctrine of Necessity” to enthrone the deputy governor of the state, Sunday Onyebuchi as acting governor.
According to Odo, the lawmakers did not in any way violate the Nigerian constitution in their handling of the issue.
Odo, who spoke on the floor of the House at the resumption of debates on the state’s 2013 budget proposal, said by not invoking the “Doctrine of Necessity” to dislodge Chime on account of his leave, the Assembly did not do anything wrong to warrant the recent attack over the issue.
Claiming that Chime’s absence was in order and should not be compared with that of the late President Yar’Adua, the speaker restated that the governor transmitted a letter to the House before travelling and in the letter he empowered his deputy as the acting governor.
“And under the 1999 Constitution, section 190, whenever a governor is travelling and he intends to stay for more than 21 days, he should transmit a letter to the House of Assembly, in which case the deputy governor now becomes the acting governor, which Sullivan Chime had done”.