THE Imo State House of Assembly has impeached its speaker, Chiji Collins over allegations bordering on financial misappropriation, high handedness and gross misconduct.
Collins, who represents the Isiala- Mbano state constituency was removed during house plenary on Friday at the legislative chamber of the Assembly complex in Owerri, the state capital.
The former Assembly Speaker was sacked following the decision of 19 out of 27 members of the Assembly who voted in support of the motion to strip him of his office.
Paul Emeziem from Onuimo Local Government Area was elected as the new speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly by the lawmakers.
Collins’ impeachment is coming eight months after he defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC) alongside other 15 other lawmakers from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
He had defected to the APC about two weeks after a supreme court judgement ousted Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of the state replacing him with the incumbent governor of the state, Hope Uzodinma.
Chiji had won the Isiala-Mbano Assembly seat on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) but joined PDP in the race for the speakership position of the Imo State Assembly.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94