Edo council chairmen urge security agencies to secure LG assets
Obaseki’s media aide accuses Okpebholo of plotting to fleece council security funds, others
To forestall any breakdown of law and order in the 18 local councils in Edo State, following the purported suspension of the council chairmen and their vices by the Edo State House of Assembly (EDHA), the elected chairmen, under the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), yesterday, insisted on their mandate as elected officials and called for improved security around local councils in the state.
Addressing newsmen at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo State Council in Benin, Chairman, Orhionmwon Local Council and Chairman, ALGON, Edo State, Deacon Newman Ugiagbe, said the council chairmen were duly elected.
He noted that the Edo State House of Assembly’s action on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, in response to Governor Monday Okpebholo’s request to suspend the chairmen/vice chairmen, was ultra vires and, therefore, a nullity as it was based on nothing in the eyes of the law.
The Chairman of ALGON in Edo State also described their purported suspension as contempt against the court’s order. He urged the 18 council chairmen to maintain law and order, saying, “We will go about our lawful duties in the local councils. Nobody can truncate our mandate as we are lawfully elected officials.”
Ugiagbe said the elected chairmen had, through their lawyer, Ogaga Ovrawah & Sons, served on the governor and the Speaker of the state Assembly “A Notice of Judgment in Suit No. B/2570S/2624: Hon. Newman Oghomwen Ugiagbe & 17 Ors” delivered by the Chief Judge of Edo State High Court of Justice.
He appealed for the deployment of security agencies to the entire 18 council secretariat in defence of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to create an enabling environment for the smooth running of local council functions to which they have been sworn having been duly elected.”
Reacting Edo State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Samson Osagie said that the Edo Assembly has exercised its powers by law provisions, adding that it is within the rights of the 18 elected council chairmen to protest. Osagie noted that the local council chairmen were not sacked but suspended for two months to pave the way for investigation.
MEANWHILE, Crusoe Osagie, the Media Adviser to former Governor Godwin Obaseki, in a statement yesterday, accused the Monday Okpebholo administration of plotting, through the suspension of the council chairmen, to access and squander the N800 million monthly special security funds, the environmental funds and other funds in the local council accounts.
According to Osagie, the whole ploy kicked off with a meeting at the Government House where Okpebholo instructed the council chairmen to submit their statement of account from September to November 2024 within 48 hours.
He said that this was followed by a letter from the governor, issued through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, Community, and Chieftaincy Affairs to the 18 council chairmen, instructing them not to utilise or expend the funds without his approval. The directive was to ensure that the funds remained intact in the local council coffers while providing him with sufficient time to actualise his plan to hijack the local councils.
He said: “The Edo State House of Assembly was subsequently co-opted into the scheme through a combination of threats and inducements. This culminated in yesterday’s sitting, where the 18 council chairmen were illegally suspended, paving the way for the governor to access and squander the N800 million monthly special security funds, environmental funds, and other funds in the local councils’ accounts.
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