War in Oron L.G Council, as legislators move to impeach chairman

The Chairman of Oron Local Government Council, Hon. Orman Esin, has put the legislative council into a state of Anarchy. 

Esin had put the Legislators on a stampede, denying them their imprest, security and legislative vote for eight (8) months, as well four (4) approved seminar and constituency allowances, insiders say. 

The Council boss is alleged to have incited the impeachment of the Leader, Deputy and Deputy Chief Whip of the council.   

Information has it that, Esin has failed in his attempts to impeach the above-mentioned political office holders in the area. 

“The Chairman has taken an oath of Salt, Bible and Pure water not to relent in his avowed determination to render the councillors incapacitated financially. He instigated the lawmakers to be living at logger-heads with one another” a witness has it. 
A Stakeholder in Oron Local Government Area who spoke strictly on grounds of anonymity hinted that, Hon. Orman Esin has bluntly refused to pay the councillors their entitlements for selfish reasons.  

The Council boss, our investigations revealed, is posed for a serious showdown with the lawmakers after his failure to impeach the Leader, Hon. Effiong Effiong Ebieme, Deputy Leader, Hon. Godwin Onwebiak, and the Deputy Chief Whip, Hon. Henry Effiong Ating. 

The Paper can report authoritatively that while the saga persists in the Council, the Chairman has reportedly split the Legislative House into two with six councillors against him and four in support of him.
Hon. Esin, it was gathered had bribed the four councillors supporting him with a token of N400, 000 each while the clerk, Mr. Nse Ebieme got N200, 000 and the sergeant at arm is alleged to has been bribed with a N120,000 to facilitate his impeachment plot. 

The high ranking members of the Oron legislature have vowed to resist the madness of the Council boss, Orman Esin, challenging him to pay their statutory entitlements and as well, present account of his stewardship to the people. 

Already, four members of the legislature have been suspended indefinitely for refusal to attend the emergency sitting of the House on Monday 21st July 2014 and the ones who are principal officers of the council have been replaced. 

The suspended councillors include Hon. Joseph Asuquo, Hon. Eskor Okon Umoh, Hon. Asuquo Nyong Effiong and Hon. Roseline Bassey Une. 

Meanwhile, Hon. Victor Eta Bassey, Rt. Hon. Effiong Okon Edet and Hon. Victor Okon Willie have been appointed by the House to function as House Leader, Deputy House Leader Deputy Chief Whip, and is the respectively. 

It would be recalled that the 2013 financial year elapsed since May 2014, but the council boss has refused to present the 2014 appropriation bill to the House and has rather been in the habit of spending of the council’s allocation and Internal Generated Revenue recklessly without an approved budget to guide his expenditure.   

Sources from the area told newsmen that the Chairman, being under pressure may soon meet his waterloo as, decision makers in Oron are reported to be very disappointed over the unfortunate scenario bedevilling the council under his administration.

Some youths in the area have as well linked the fracas in the council to the inexperience and incompetence of the chairman in manning the affairs of the local government.    

A politician from Oron confided in Journalists that Hon. Esin is now consulting political war lords in the area to intervene before the Lawmakers’ axe fall on him.
In his reaction to the story, the Chairman of the council, Hon. Orman Esin, told our reporter during a Telephone interview that there is no money in the council to pay the councillors entitlements. 

He said, “Where do they want me to get money to pay them; do they want me to go and manufacture money? The little money we have is for the payment of salaries and it is not enough to pay the statutory entitlements of the lawmakers.”
The Chairman also debunked the rumour that there is fracas in the council between the Executive and Legislature, while emphasizing that one can only give out what he has, not what he does not have. 

He challenged the Councillors to make available the records of their entitlements and maintained that his administration will continue to live up to the yearning and aspiration of the people.  

However, filers from the area have disclosed that in less than a week from now, the legislature will serve the Chairman a letter of impeachment. 

All effort to trap down the Councillors to comment on the story at the time of this report proved abortive, as our investigations revealed that the Chairman allegedly ordered the threatening of the Deputy Leader who scampered for safety to an undisclosed location. 

The other five Councillors are alleged to have fled to the Federal Capital Territory for security reasons.