Benue State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) finds it disturbing, the apparent confusion of Governor Hyacinth Alia as to who, between himself and the Benue State House of Assembly, actually suspended from office elected local government council administrations in the state.
The governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, reacting to knocks from the Nigerian Senate on the governor over the lingering suspension of the local councils, stated before journalists in Makurdi yesterday that it was the State Assembly, and not his boss, who sacked them.
Governor Alia also reserved very harsh words for Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Patrick Abba Moro, for raising the motion on the floor of the apex law making body to draw its attention to the matter, as the governor accused the Benue-South Senator of bandying lies to mislead the Red Chamber of the National Assembly.
CPS Kula said “Governor Hyacinth Alia did not dissolve the democratically elected Local Government leadership in the state. The Benue State House of Assembly which is vested with the constitutional powers to legislate over the Local Government did. The Assembly did this in exercise of their constitutional responsibility as enshrined in Sections 7 and 8 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended”.
While neither sections 7 or 8 of the constitution so cited by the CPS says anything about suspension of local government councils, the Benue State House of Assembly had earlier claimed that they had recommended the sacking of the councils to the governor, in line with existing laws.
PDP recalls that Speaker of the Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, on 25th June, 2023, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Raphael Akume, among other things, said “For the avoidance of doubt, the Local Government Establishment Law empowers the State House of Assembly to make recommendations where and when necessary to the Governor for the suspension of Local Government Councils in cases of misappropriation of public funds or Gross abuse of office by any of them.
“It is worthy to restate that the Benue State House of Assembly came up with the recommendation for the suspension of all the Local Government Councils in the State following the consideration of a report on the income and expenditures of all the Local Government Councils forwarded to it by the State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia”.
From the above referenced position of the State Assembly which was made in June and backed by recourse to law, it has all along been a notorious fact before the law courts and to the public that Governor Alia and no one else carried out the dissolution of the duly elected local government council administrations in the state.
It is on record that Governor Alia had ordered the dissolution of the councils through the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ode Ochelle, in a letter dated June 23, 2023, directed to the 23 local government chairmen and leaders of the 23 legislative houses asking them to vacate their seats.
PDP is aware that the humiliation and embarrassment occasioned on the governor is much from the Senate which expressed disappointment at his open contempt for the numerous court orders barring him from truncating the tenure of those lawfully elected councils, as such conduct, the Senate said is unhelpful to the image of his sponsoring party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
We, therefore, understand that the governor is not in the right frame to recall issues properly, especially now when he is buffeted on all sides by intra party crisis and the latent lack of order, discipline and direction in his administration.
In sympathy with Governor Alia at such trying times, PDP advises him to be sober in analyzing issues confronting him, such as the position taken by Senator Abba Moro, on the dissolution of the elected councils.
Under a calmer mindset, the governor would see that Senator Moro presented nothing but the facts of the matter before the Senate, and sought no objective in doing so other than the enhancement of democracy in Benue at the third tier of government.
Governor Alia may wish to recall his promise to grant autonomy to the local government tier in Benue during the campaigns, for then will he see the likes of the Senate Minority Leader as partners in progress rather than foes who should be addressed in the uncouth and inelegant language his statement through his Chief Press Secretary regarding the Senator contained.
