For the third time in a row, the Caretaker Committee Chairmen overseeing the 17 Local Governments in Plateau State have had their tenure extended, despite the bribery allegations leveled against them.

The leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), weeks ago, accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of levying and collecting the sum of N500, 000 each from the chairmen, to pave way for tenure extension.

Prior to the expiration of their tenure on June 30, 2016, Governor Simon Lalong, communicated the State House of Assembly, asking them to extend the tenure from the usual two months to six.

He stated that the extension became necessary before machinery is put in place for the conduct of the next council poll.This led to a rowdy session, as the house was divided on the matter. A member representing Kantana constituency on the platform of PDP and the deputy speaker, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, said the House had received 11 petitions against the chairmen.
   
According to Gagdi, “If the chairmen were doing well, petitions would not have been written against them, most especially that the petitions are coming from some members of the APC.”
   
But a member representing Jos North-North constituency on the platform of APC, Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan, urged the House to consider the six-month tenure extension to pave way for proper planning of the election.
  
After a heated debate, 10 PDP members, who felt it was unconstitutional to further extend the tenure, walked out of the plenary to register their displeasure.In their absence, the matter was put to voice votes, and the tenure was extended for the third time, excluding when they were first appointed in July 2015.
   
But despite the vote, the chairmen were alleged to have earlier taxed themselves, to influence the legislators, which led to the extension.The State Secretary of PDP, Mr. John Akans, who made the bribery allegation on June 29, said he had it on record that the chairmen had contributed N500, 000 every month, to the leadership of the party in the state, in order to extend their tenure.
     
But the State Secretary of APC, Alhaji Bashiru Musa Sati, denied the allegation. He said, “I don’t think the chairman can go so low to ask the chairmen for money in order to extend their tenure. As the state secretary, I don’t think I can go down so low to ask the chairmen to contribute money, not to even talk of my chairman.”