In Benue state, there is mounting tension between the State Governor Hyacinth Alia and the purportedly suspended chairmen of the 23 local government areas.
This controversial suspension of the council chairs came up on a resolution of the Benue House of Assembly which called on Governor Alia to suspend the council chairmen and their legislators. The resolution, the House insisted, was to pave the way for proper investigation into the allegations of financial recklessness levelled against the chairmen.
The Permanent Secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ode Ochelle through a letter asked the chairmen and their legislators to hand over the mantle of leadership in their domains and proceed on suspension immediately as a consequence of the House resolution.
Deepening Controversies over the action of the governor, the council chairmen have rejected the directives from the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to hand over power to the Director of General Service and Administration (DGSA).
Last Saturday, the purportedly suspended chairmen, through the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), rejected the directives and vowed to continue in office until their tenure expired next year. ALGON chairman, Benue State, Dr Mike Uba said the association does not recognize the directive from the Benue State House of Assembly and the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
Uba who addressed reporters at the weekend over the lingering crisis said: “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 recognises 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 April 30, 2022, in the local council elections conducted by the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) and sworn into office on June 29, 2022. We, in line with the provision of extant law, proclaimed the legislative councils in our various areas which were also duly elected and thereafter forwarded to them our nominations 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 the law, with the procedure for the administration of the councils under our leadership 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 in Makurdi which barred the government of Benue State at all levels from taking any action as seeks to temper with our lawfully recognized mandate as elected council chairmen.
“That judgment of the court is still subsisting and we are not even aware that the 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.
“We as Chief Security Officers of the 23 local government areas of Benue State are critical stakeholders and leaders in the state and will at all times be willing to tow the path of peace, law and order, and this we have been doing since being sworn into office in our various councils.
“However, we will not surrender to illegality and impunity as is being contrived against us. If we surrender to the unlawful purported suspension preferred against us, we will be doing a disservice to Benue State.
“In resisting the impunity, we are doing a duty to the state in line with our sworn oath to discharge the functions vested to our office for the good of the people. We reiterate that we do not recognize the purported suspension of our councils together with the legislative arms of our councils, and as such will not comply with it.”
In a swift response, Governor Alia debunked the accusation from council chairmen. The governor stated this last Saturday at a press conference organized by the suspended council chairmen, who accused him of sacking them from office despite a subsisting court order barring their sack.
