Diyala provincial council voted to dismiss Omar Krui from the post of council speaker for the second time in five months and elected Nizar Lihebi to replace him.
The council meeting was held on Sunday, March 23, 2025 in the presence of 12 out of 15 members, in which the speaker of the provincial council, Omar Krui, was questioned and then voted on his resignation on the grounds his answers were not convincing.
Lihebi was elected as the new speaker of the Diyala provincial council and was sworn in before the highest judicial authority of the province on Monday March 24.
According to KirkukNow's reporter, the council immediately opened the door to nomination for the seat, although Krui stressed that the case of removal from the Court of Appeal has not been resolved and the provincial council should not hold an inquiry until the first case is resolved.
"We will go to court to resolve this case because our first case has not yet been resolved about my removal for the first time and we have received a letter from parliament that cannot hold an inquiry and removal hearing.
We will go to court to settle this case
Earlier, on October 29, 2024, Krui was removed from the post of speaker of the council and Nizar Lihebi was elected to the post on October 31,
Krui and Lihebi are both Sunni Arabs, the first on the Siyada list led by Khamis Khanjar and the other on the Taqadum list led by former speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Mohammed al-Halbusi. The two Sunni leaders were at odds over the post of the speaker.
"The Diyala council has given me confidence and we will plan our projects in such a way as to strengthen prosperity and investment, we will correct the supervision of government offices, we will continue to conduct meetings without interruption," Lihebi said.
Details of the council meeting
The council meeting came after the escalation of disputes and disruption of ordinary sessions of the council, which has not been able to hold any official meetings since December 31 last year.
"The decision to remove Krui was not made by agreement before the meeting, but all the members of the council came to the conclusion that the presidency of the council is weak, so the removal meeting was organized," Salim al-Tamimi, deputy speaker of Diyala provincial council told KirkukNow.
He also said that the council plans to change the reality that has disrupted the council and want to continue the meetings to discuss decisions related to the province with the follow-up to the work of offices and tighten their monitoring.
The inquiry, attended by 12 council members, sparked an argument between Turki Jad'an Atbi, who oversaw the inquiry, and council speaker Krui, after that Atbi accused Krui of administrative violations and falsifying the minutes of previous council meetings and conversion of Jalawla and Qaratapa sub-districts to districts.
The election of the heads of the administrative units of Diyala has been opened for several months. Since August 20, 2024, the election of the heads of the administrative units has been opened in several stages and CVs were received. Most of the positions of the mayors were determined in November 23, 24 late nigh meeting, in a closed meeting, away from media, observers and activists of civil society organizations.
Members present at the council meeting did not "believe" Krui’s answers and voted on his dismissal.
"The council has fulfilled its constitutional and legal role regarding the accountability for the purpose of evaluation, especially since the council has not held any meetings for two and a half months and everyone thinks it is the council members, but in fact most members did not believe in the administration of the council,” Atbi said in a press conference.
"He is our friend and brother, but his accountability was because of his management of the affairs," he added. “We have sent him six questions nine days ago and sent back the answers last Thursday.”
However, Krui said in a statement that he had sent answers to all questions within 48 hours.
The council has fulfilled its constitutional and legal role
"The inquiry was conducted transparently, we thanked him and then we unanimously did not believe his answers. A meeting was held to remove him from office and Nizar Lihebi was elected in his place," he added.
According to the Law on Unorganized Provinces in a Region No. 21 of 2008 – as amended, the council has the power to remove the council speaker and deputy speaker by an absolute majority at the request of one third of the members.
"The decision of the council after questioning Omar Krui was not unexpected for us, it seems that the decision was prepared, within the framework of the movements to obtain the post," Muzer Krui, a member of the Iraqi parliament from Diyala and brother of Omar Krui, said in a statement.
He believes that some agendas of political forces are moving in this direction without realizing the mistake they have made, because “the issue does not stop there, the promises made at the beginning of the formation of local governments have been broken by political forces and all these are taken into consideration.”
The first session of the Diyala provincial council was held on February 5, 2024, due to disputes between different factions, remained open until August 1, at the Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, the election process for the posts of council speaker, governor and deputies followed by protests yet all factions returned to council sessions in, but the election of the heads of administrative units and the latest to remove the head of the council revived the disagreements in the institution.
