Ahmed Usman Ododo, Kogi state Governor has been urged to put machinery in place to fast track the conduct of local government election s in the state .
Idris Miliki , the Executive Director of Conscience for Human Rights and Conflicts Resolution (CHRCR) gave the advice in a statement on Friday in lokoja , adding that the call was based on the Supreme Court judgment on Thursday, declaring full autonomy for local government administration as the third tier of government in Nigeria:
He said “The Apex Court judgement has declared that allocations are to be paid directly to Local Government Councils immediately, while the Section of the Constitution for joint allocations automatically got deleted without NASS Amendment”.
He syresded that the appointment of Caretaker committees is illegal and unconstitutional; and no governor has any powers to appoint any Caretaker Committee Chairman (CTC.) , adding that the Supreme Court affirmed that the State governors had constituted themselves “as dangerous species to the development of democracy”,
“In all of these, it can only be effective in state’s local governments that have constitutionally and democratically elected council chairmen.
“Meaning, state are to from now cease to operate local government caretaker committee chairmanship, as any state still operating local government caretaker committee will not be given her local government allocation.
“Such allocation will be withheld and not released to neither the state governors nor the local government caretaker committee chairmen any more.
“The above pronouncement by the supreme court have further vindicate us in CHRCR as we have consistently advocated.
“We continue to advocate for democratic dispensation at Local Government Level that will promote financial autonomy of Local Government Administration in Kogi State”.
Idris equally noted that the last democratically elected LG council tenure in Kogi, ended on Dec. 14, 2023 , adding that the Caretakers was illegally imposed by the immediate past administration on Jan. 9, 2024.
“Subsequently and tragically, the current administration in Kogi in collaboration with House of Assembly extended the tenure of the LG chairmen perpetrating illegality in the face of legitimacy.
“We are worried the situation that will befall the LG staff and the security situation at local government level in Kogi,” Idris said.
He equally urged the governor to reverse the illegal extension of the tenure of LG council as pronounced by State Assembly on July 5, 2024 and replace them with the Directors of Local Government across the state.
“We recommend, that for the purpose of payment of salary and security of the Local Government, the Kogi State Government should continue to make money available inform of loan to the Local Government Council pending when democratically elected Local Government Council will be put in place.
“With the supplementary budget approved by the State Assembly on the July 5, the governor and its government can no longer claim it has not funds to conduct Local Government Elections.
“We therefore commend the Supreme Court for this laudable and historical judgment”.
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