Meanwhile, the panel has decried high degree of damage at the affected council secretariats in the state.
To get first hand details and information on the destruction, the chairman of the panel set up by the state government, Justice Ibiwengi Minakiri, on Friday embarked on a tour of the affected secretariats with the committee members.
The secretariats visited by the panel include Khana, Eleme, Ikwerre, Emohua and Obio Akpor.
According to Justice Minakiri, the visit was to get first hand information about the incident with the aim of enhancing their duties and not to rely on hearsay or documents.
She said: “We have taken time to visit the local government areas to see things for ourselves so that we don’t just rely on documents and other items in the memoranda alone.
“In Khana LGA, we noticed some things were carted away and others damaged and in Eleme, the LGA cannot function because of the way we saw it. Almost all the offices are in a very terrible state.”
“In Ikwerre, the situation is really bad and in a very bad state. If they can still do little council business there it may not take place in the main building for a very longtime considering the extent of damage that we saw there.”
She said that without the visit, the committee would not have known the extent of the damage.
Minakiri gave assurance that the committee would look into all memoranda objectively and submit its report to the government.
“So, I want to say that it would help us to do our work and at the end of the day we would draw our findings which we know the government is going to address appropriately,” she added.
Meanwhile, chairmen of the affected local councils have appealed to the committee to ensure justice.
The chairmen, who spoke during the visit, said the destruction done in their councils have affected their jobs, expressing hope that the committee would come out with findings that would compensate for the damages done to the facilities.
Chairman of Khana Council, Martins Nwigbo, said the destruction of the council was aimed at stopping them from taking over the council on October 7 and stirring fear in the people.
He said: “There is nothing left for us in this LGA. We are going to start afresh. So, I want to beg this committee to help us to get justice because Khana people have been so badly treated.”
Also, Chairman of Emohua, David Omereji said: “You can see for yourself the level of damage that was done here and we believe that we would get justice for what has been done here.”
Recall that five local council secretariats in the state were badly attacked on October 7, 2024, following the conduct of local council polls in the state.
Following the incident, Governor Siminalayi Fubara on October 8, constituted a Commission of Inquiry to unravel those behind the attack.
