•Impeached Edo Speaker, Blessing Agbebaku
Reactions have trailed the decision of the Edo State House of Assembly to convert the resignation of its former Speaker, Blessing Agbebaku, to impeachment, eight days after he resigned from office.
Speaking with journalists shortly after the Assembly converted the former Speaker’s resignation to impeachment, Hon. Paschal Ugbomeh, a former Chief Whip of the Edo State House of Assembly, questioned the constitutionality of the action, arguing that Agbebaku had duly resigned from office.
According to him, members of the Assembly are lawmakers who should abide by the law, stressing that a former Speaker who had resigned and had been succeeded could not be impeached, reports Daily Trust.
“What are they impeaching him for? Are they impeaching him as a former Speaker or for which position?” he queried.
Ugbomeh described the action as “funny,” arguing that since Agbebaku had resigned, there was no longer an office from which he could be impeached.
“They should wake up to their responsibility. I was a member of that House, and we should do the needful,” he said.
Also speaking, a lawyer, Barrister Aigbonoga, said there was no explicit provision in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) or standard House of Assembly rules supporting the conversion of a prior resignation into an impeachment, particularly after a successor had assumed office.
He said Section 92(2)(c) of the Constitution provides for the removal of a Speaker by a two-thirds majority resolution of the House, while Section 306 governs voluntary resignation.
“Retroactively changing a resignation to an impeachment is legally anomalous and politically extra-constitutional,” he said.
According to him, resignation is a voluntary relinquishment of office under Section 306, while impeachment or removal is a legislative action under Section 92.
He explained that once a resignation is tendered and becomes effective, the office becomes vacant, leaving no subsisting tenure to be subjected to impeachment.
