From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
The 23 local government Chairmen in Benue State that were suspended by Governor Hyacinth Alia have vowed to continue with their activities as security officers of their respective council areas.
The chairmen, who spoke through their leader, and Chairman of Guma LGA and Chairman, ALGON, Benue State Chapter, Hon. Michael Uba, described their suspension as “illegal and impunity taken too far.”
Recall that the Governor Alia acting on the recommendation of the State House of Assembly announced the suspension of all local government chairmen and their councillors for financial impropriety.
The state assembly had on Wednesday recommended to the state governor to suspend both the executive and legislative arms of the third tier of government to pave the way for investigation into the activities of the 23 council areas between 2015 and 2023.
In a letter signed by the Permanent Secretary of Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ode Ochelle, on behalf of the state governor, directed the executive and legislative arms of the 23 LGAs to proceed on indefinite suspension with immediate effect.
But barely 24 hours into their suspension, the chairmen, while briefing newsmen yesterday, vowed not to vacate their offices.
The ALGON chairman who stated that they would resume in their respective offices as from Monday, said there was a subsisting court judgment to the effect that their tenure should run full course as provided under the law without let or hindrance from any quarters.
“We state without the slightest modicum of ambiguity or prevarication that we do not recognize such purported suspension from office from such quarters as are purporting it, neither do we consider ourselves under any obligation to give heed to same or comply with any directive as emanates from it.
“Our position derives a fundamental base from the incontrovertible fact of our offices being a creation of law as guaranteed under the supreme umbrella of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended in 1999) which recognizes the tier of government we function at as the third in a tripod made up of the Federal, State and Local.
“We were elected as council chairmen on 30th April, 2022 in the local council elections conducted by the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BESIEC) and sworn into office on 29th June, 2022
“We, in line with the provision of the extant law proclaimed the legislative councils in our various Councils in which we were also duly elected and thereafter forwarded to them for the offices of Supervisors whom we swore into the various statutorily designated offices, together with Special Advisers to our offices.
“We were not appointed into office but were elected by the electorate of Benue State and vested with a mandate which is guaranteed under law, with the procedure for the administration of the councils under our leadership clearly provided for under the Local Government Establishment Law of Benue State.
“It is, therefore, not known to us under such law, that we and the entirety of the government at our tier of it can be sacked in the manner as purported by the state Assembly and the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
“We equally defer to the judgment of the National Industrial Court, holden in Makurdi, which barred the government of Benue State at all levels from taking any action as seeks to tamper with our lawfully recognized mandate as elected council chairmen.
“That judgement of court is still subsisting and we are not even aware that government appealed against it.
“We expect the government of Benue State to lead the way on the quest for strengthening an order of law and respect for due process in Benue, rather than promoting impunity and the sort of anarchy we are seeing in the actions of the state Assembly and the local government bureau,” they said.