The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State has accused Governor Hyacinth Alia of disdaining the sacred provisions for due process and rule of law in the running of government following his recent appointment of caretaker committees for local government areas of the state.
The state Publicity Secretary of PDP, Bemgba Iortyom, on Thursday, said the announcement of the caretaker committees to govern the 23 local government council administrations was made over the radio and circulated in other media channels without as much as the mandatory enabling law enacted by the Benue State House of Assembly stipulating their form and tenure, neither were the heads of those committees so appointed screened by the legislature as required by law.
Iortyom added that while campaigning for the governorship in the 2023 elections, Alia had publicly promised to grant autonomy to the local government tier of administration if voted into office, reportedly stressing before the electorate that all that will be needed to do that is “the will, political will.”
“But since his assumption of office Governor Alia’s approach towards the running of the affairs of the local government councils has been characterised by contempt for one court order after another, all of them upholding the tenure of the councils duly elected into office before he became governor, and restraining him or any other authority from tampering with the legitimate mandate of those councils which still subsists,” he said.
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It would be recalled that the 23 council chairmen in Benue state were elected on the platform of the PDP during the April 30, 2022 local council elections conducted by the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC), and they were sworn into office on June 29, 2022 to a definite tenure of two years as enshrined in the Local Government Establishment Law of the state.
But, they were ousted from office after the present administration took over and the House of Assembly recommended all of them to be suspended over alleged financial misappropriation.
Tersoo Kula, the governor’s spokesman, was yet to respond to calls or messages put through his telephone at the time of filing this report.
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