Lawmakers move against council chairman

Crisis has erupted in the executive council of Awgu Local Government Council, as the councilors yesterday passed a vote of no confidence in the chairman of the council, Nze Mathanus Nnanna.

In a resolution signed by the 11 councilors after their sitting in Awgu, they accused Nnanna, whose tenure will elapse on January 4, of financial misappropriation, conversion of local government land to personal use and forceful take over of people’s land.

The council chairman, they further alleged, had run the local
government as his personal business and had refused to pay workers’ salaries for three months. He was reportedly said to have owed his political appointees for more than 15 months.

They also accused him of resorting to holding councilors’ allowances as well as false representation of issues and reports as regards the local government.
But Nnanna denied the allegations, stressing that he had continued to meet his financial obligations to the council workers and other appointees.

He said that any outstanding allowances and obligations were not peculiar to Awgu Local Council, stressing that the economic meltdown has seriously affected the revenue of the council. He called on the lawmakers to give peace a chance and support him to continue the good work he had embarked on in the last three years at the council.

Resolved, the councilors unanimously summoned the treasurer, head of Personnel Management, Supervisors for Finance, Works and Town Engineer to appear during her sitting next week to explain issues relating to their work.
They are to appear with “Income and expenditure of Awgu local Government from January 2014 to date, furnish the House with reasons why salaries of councilors, supervisors and other appointees have not been paid for months”, even as they issued a stop work order on lock-up shops being erected at the council land.

They also suspended and replaced the Deputy leader Emeka Orji from Mgbidi/Mmaku ward with Kingsley Mba from Anikenano/Ugwueme ward for alleged gross misconduct.