Plot to remove Imo deputy gov thickens •As state’s assembly pronounces him guilty of corruption

THE move to remove the deputy governor of Imo State, Sir Jude Agbaso, over alleged misdemeanour has reached an advanced stage as a committee of the State House of Assembly saddled with the task of probing the allegations of corruption against him returned a guilty verdit.
The committee, which presented its report to the House last Thursday, affirmed that the deputy governor was guilty of the allegation of misappropriating the sum of N450 million meant for contractors levelled against him through a petition.
The report nailing the deputy governor had, however, set the tone for the commencement of an impeachment process likely to kick off next week as members of the state legislators have started working to secure the two-thirds majority required to kick him out.
Findings by Sunday Tribune had revealed that members of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) required just three more members to secure the majority number so required while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members were said to have taken their case to Abuja for support to forestall the impeachment process.
The governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha, has distanced himself from the impeachment threat against the deputy governor on the basis that the State House of Assembly is competent to resolve its problem.
Okorocha said although there had been pressure on him to interfere from influential members of the public in the state, he would not want to meddle in the affairs of the assembly in the spirit of separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution.
The Special Assistant on Print Media, Ebere Uzokwa, relayed Okorocha’s standpoint on the crises to newsmen in Owerri, said the governor would not interfere essentially because of his zero tolerance for corruption which he had been preaching.