‘Don’t vote for politicians against LG autonomy’

Nasarawa State chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has charged electorate in the 2019 general elections to vote out any politician who refused to accept local government autonomy. 

Mr. Saidu Musa gave the charge at the party’s office in Lafia while reacting to a decision by state House of Assembly not to adopt the autonomy of local government.

According to him, the people at the grassroots will not enjoy the dividends of democracy until the local council is given its proper place because it is the government closest to them.

“The nearest person to the people at the grassroots are the council chairmen and the ward councillors because they live among them and so they know their immediate needs,” Saidu said.Saidu lamented that the state legislators are just rubber stamp of the governor and called on the electorate to vote them out next year.

Saidu was a two-time chairman of AWE local government area. He is also one-time ALGON state chairman and national financial secretary.He noted that the best President Buhari could do for Nigeria was to give autonomy to local government.

“Those who claim that if autonomy is given to local government it will deepen corruption must understand that the worst corrupt people today are governors,” Saidu said.

“Today the governor decides what a local government gets, he awards contracts without the knowledge of the local government chairman because he is the one that puts the chairman there by hook or crook.”

Saidu argued further that one of the reasons why insecurity is so prevalent is because the council chairmen must report and take instruments from the governor, but if there is autonomy the council leaders could easily take steps to quell crisis at the local level.

He, therefore, cautioned politicians who are benefiting from the present arrangement to know that they will not continue to be there but one day retire back to their local life.He applauded states that have adopted the passage of local government autonomy and called on governors and houses of assemblies who have not to do so.

He also noted that the autonomy of local government was not absolute and therefore should not create any fear that the council chairmen would become too powerful.He called on ALGON leadership in the country not to give up in the fight for autonomy because that was the only hope of the ordinary man to get the attention of the government.