The Abia State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has accused Governor Alex Otti of collecting the Seals of the 17 Local Government Areas from the local governments’ Heads of Service.
The PDP said that these Heads of Service are those whom the immediate past Local Government Transition Chairmen handed over after their dissolution by the present Governor Otti
Elder Abraham Amah, Abia PDP Vice Chairman/Acting State Publicity Secretary, said that credible, reliable and authentic intelligence reaching his party has informed them of what he termed Otti’s blatant act of illegality.
He accused Otti of becoming too power thirsty that he has recently assumed the roles of a governor and Chairman of the 17 Local Government Areas of Abia State at the same time.
Amah said that the implication is that Governor Otti is the one running not only Abia as a State and the second tier of government but also the local government areas, another tier of government; an act that is not only unconstitutional and a usurpation of the powers of the local councils but also actionable by law.
He said that to the best of their knowledge, no bill has been passed into law by the Abia State House of Assembly which mandates the governor to run the local governments as one of the Ministries in Abia State.
“This novelty, unfortunately, is one that puts the governor as the arrowhead of those in breach of the Constitution they swore to protect and defend at all times.
“For the purpose of clarity, the local government is a creation of the Constitution of the Federal Government of Nigeria and is in no way an appendage of the State government.
“Though the Constitution mandates the States House of Assembly to make laws for the good governance of the local governments, in no section of it did it make the local government an arm of the State government and its running should therefore not be at the whims of the State governor as we are seeing in Abia today?
“The local government’s finances are run with the States through the process and operation of a Joint Account Allocation Committee, (JAAC), between representatives of the State and the local governments and both tiers are signatories to the local government accounts as funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and other accruals are received monthly and at other times into the joint account.”
Amah said that Abia PDP, therefore, finds it curious and strange that Governor Otti would bypass legal procedures and run the 17 Abia local governments as if it were one of the Ministries in the State.
He said that by confiscating the Seals of the local governments as it were, the State governor now acts not only as the State governor but also as the Chairman-General of the Abia Local Government system: a system that is very strange and unaccommodated by the letters of the Nigerian laws.
“This unholy effort makes the running of the local governments not only undemocratic, cumbersome and complex but also opaque because there is no check as would ordinarily have been when all the signatories are in the know of how the finances of the local governments are run,” he said.
According to Amah, in contrast to Otti, at no point in the eight years of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as the governor of Abia State did he emasculate or usurp the powers of the local governments.
“In the absence of elected local government Chairman and Councillors, the convention has been to appoint local government Transition Committees; made up of an appointed Chairman and Councillors to oversee the affairs of the local governments.
“Instructively, the former governor Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu never allowed any vacuum in the administration of local governments as he always ensured that the local councils were manned by capable hands, and it is on record that he is one of the few governors across the country that conducted local government elections twice in their eight-year tenure and was committed to conducting the third one before it was scuttled by the Labour Party and its agents, all in a bid to diminish the glowing popularity of former governor Okezie Ikpeazu who brought peace and prosperity to Abians.”
Amah warns about the danger of running the State outside the confines of the law, stressing that such ugly precedents being set by Otti with every of his action since he was sworn into office would one-day boomerang and consume everybody including those cheerleaders who are nudging him to act recklessly even in the face of known illegalities.
He said, “”We call upon the governor to retrace his steps and allow the Abia local government system to function within the ambit of the law, return the seals to the Heads of Service of local governments, who are by law, custodians of the authority of the local governments in the absence of elected or appointed political heads of the council.
“He should allow them to do their constitutionally assigned duties or at best, appoint Transition Committees to oversee the affairs of the local governments before the conduct of local government elections.
“And to the elders of Abia State, members of the Labour Party and the good people of Abia State, we remind everyone once again, that eternal vigilance is still the price of liberty and that we should collectively prevail upon the State governor, Dr. Alex Otti to do what is right before our dear State descends into autocracy as it is gradually, but manifestly tending to with every action of the governor that is condoned by those that should speak up.”
