The furore trailing the surprising impeachment of Hon Philip Igwe is not dying down soon. His colleagues may be heading to EFCC to further “deal with him.”
In a dramatic turn of event, members of Aninri Legislature impeached their leader yesterday and replaced him with Hon Emmanuel Ajah.
Gladys Ani, the chamber’s Chief Whip, was suspended for six months. In the meantime, Rt. Hon Edwin Ogbuka would serve in Ani’s place.
“Let me tell you the truth, The Mail,” started an insider source familiar with the development.
“Philip [former leader] is a thief, and I mean a big-time thief. This isn’t about calling dog a bad name to hang it. I’ll call names, and all I’ll tell you are all verifiable,” the source continued.
According to the source, the circumstances that were to finally culminate to the present unrest predated the current Assembly. It started in the dark days of former council chairman, Bennett Ajah who, unarguably, ran the most wicked administration in the Aninri 28-year politics.
Between 2020 and 2022, the impeached leader connived Bennett Ajah and looted Aninri treasury, the source added.
Multiple times, Mr Igwe pocketed his colleagues’ sitting allowances and impress.
“After serving his term in the Bennett Ajah’s dark days, the other 9 members of Aninri Legislature wrote petition that Mr Igwe would not lead them again.
“It took the intervention of critical stakeholders before he was reelected the Leader. But he had continued molesting his colleagues, taking their benefits openly and boasting about it.
“He collected several state/local government revenues but never remit those revenues,” the source added.
Already, the Enugu Inland Revenue Services has suspended one of the embattled lawmaker’s proteges over misconduct.
Another source who also pleaded anonymity indicted Philip Igwe even more.
The source said: “He [Mr Philip Igwe] certainly must have believed that the local government belongs to him.
“That man has taken a lot by force. He stole and sold solar panels belonging to the council, but they had been recovered. Also, Philip had been entering the council’s headquarters and harvesting the resources in the vast palm trees.
According to the sources, the former House Leader ran a dangerous gang with which he relentlessly pursued his heinous interests.
But he may end up in the jail soon. Sunday Olisemeka, the chamber’s Majority Leader, has with him a petition against Philip Igwe which is on its way to the office of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC)
The present excitement is the second of its kind in recent time as far as Aninri Legislature is concerned. Sometimes in 2020, the 10-member Assembly turned deadly and went for the then Chairman, Ezekiel Chukwu’s throat and nearly strangled him in the widely publicized impeachment attempt. Chukwu only narrowly survived the assault, trembling.
However, Aninri councillors went back to sleep since then.