Bans press coverage of sitting
The 7-member probe panel set up to inves­tigate allegations of misconduct against the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, yesterday, or­dered that summons be served on the deputy gover­nor and the speaker of the State House of Assembly.
The order was sequel to the absence of the contend­ing parties or their represen­tatives during the sitting.
The panel, which com­menced sitting yesterday, also banned media coverage of its proceedings.
It ordered that, “a sum­mon should be served on the speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly and the deputy governor as well as any other witness in the mat­ter,” stressing that if personal service was not possible on the deputy governor, a sub­stituted means should be used.
The panel chairman, Mr. Oraekeyi Uche Franklin, said although members ar­rived in record time, none of the parties was seen in court, prompting them to resume later than 9 a.m.
He reiterated that the pan­el would not serve as a tool for political witch-hunt.
He said: “We will give fair hearing on all the parties to come and prove or defend the allegations as the case may be. Nobody should en­tertain any fear.
It is an investigative sit­ting. We will not hold public sittings. After today, there will be restrictions. We may not allow the press, the only people we will allow here are the members of the Enu­gu State House of Assembly, the deputy governor or their lawyers.”
The Director of Civil Litigation in the Enugu State Ministry of Justice, Mr. In­nocent Eze, who appeared for the state, told the panel that “ordinarily, there is sup­posed to be evidence of ser­vice of notices of this sitting on the parties involved.”
 

Impeachment: Panel orders service on Enugu deputy gov, speaker