Son of Pa Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, Ijaw and Niger Delta national leader, who is the chairman of Burutu local government council of Delta state, Ebikeme Clark has been impeached by the Legislative Arm of the council barely few weeks to the end of his tenure.
Speaking to HardReporters correspondent in Warri, one of the councillors who participated in the impeachment said, a vote of no confidence and notice of impeachment was Tuesday served on the embattled council boss, Mr. Clark.
“The impeachment was presided over by the Leader of the Legislative Arm Honourable Felix Kemapade. The Councillor representing Okpokunou Ward 7 in the Burutu Local Government Legislative Arm, Churchill Botu moved for the impeachment and was seconded by Richard Asiyae and unanimously adopted by the house.
“After which a notice of impeachment was signed by fifteen out of the twenty councillors present at the plenary. We impeached the chairman because of his highhandedness, abuse of office, lack of due process, corruption and above all, misappropriation of public funds among others.” the councillor said.
The impeachment notice signed by the fifteen councillors and made available to HardReporters and titled “A motion of vote of no confidence and impeachment on the Council Chairman Honourable Ebikeme Clark.”, noted that “The House has observed the abuse of office by the Council Chairman Honourable Ebikeme Clark, also is the misconduct and mismanagement of council funds including non adherence of due process in his dealings”.
The House also resolved to freeze the Bank account of the council domiciled with Zenith Bank PLC to stop further mismanagement of council funds.
According to the notice, “Furthermore the House has resolved to freeze the Burutu Local Government Council account domiciled at Zenith Bank of Nigeria PLC situated at Ogunu road from further mismanagement of funds as the Chairman has blatantly refused to give account of his stewardship to the Legislative Arm”, adding that the impeached Council boss has blatantly refused to give account of his stewardship to the legislative arm as required by law.
Meanwhile as at the time of filing in this report, our correspondent reliably learnt that the impeachment notice has been forwarded to the Delta State House of Assembly for ratification as required by the Delta State Local Government Law as amended.
It would be recalled that sometime in 2014, the council boss, Clark was kidnapped by unknown gunmen and was released after former governor Emmanuel Uduaghan led administration allegedly paid N500 million.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), through its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, had alleged that Ebikeme, had colluded with the Delta State Police Command and the Delta State Government to orchestrate his kidnap to swindle the state of N500 million.
But, the allegation was swiftly debunked by the state government.
