National Scribe of the Congress of Nigerian Political Parties, Mr. Willy Ezeugwu, said the governor’s long absence was unacceptable.
Ezeugwu told our correspondent on Friday that Chime should be impeached and the Deputy Governor, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, sworn in.
He said, “Is it that the House of Assembly members are just mere members? Well, if they are not ready to impeach Chime, the people of Enugu State will take over the Government House and install the deputy governor.
“It is only in Nigeria that such things happen. The same thing was applicable when we had a constitutional crisis at the federal level when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was incapacitated for many months and Nigeria was totally in disarray. The same thing now applies to Enugu State, where I come from.
“We are all human beings, anybody can fall sick and there is nothing to hide. The moment you are president, vice-president, governor or deputy governor, the people have a right to know what is wrong with you.”
When our correspondent asked Chime’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Chukwudi Achife, to react to CNPP’s call for impeachment, Achife said the governor was on vacation and would be back soon.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chuks Ugokwe, did not pick calls made to his mobile phone.
The last time Chime was seen at a public function or at the Government House by journalists was on September 9, during the South-East Governors’ Forum meeting in Enugu.
A protocol staff at the Government House, who pleaded anonymity, had in October, said the governor went to the United Kingdom because of his poor health but was later referred to India when his case got worse.