During a congratulatory visit to Governor Monday Okpebholo at the Government House in Benin City on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, the Edo Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) and Chairman of Orhionmwon Local Government, Newman Ugiagbe, pledged the loyalty and collaboration of the 18 council chairmen, to ensure the success of the Okpebholo administration.
“We are here to congratulate the governor and deputy on the mandate Edo people gave them, and to pledge our loyalty to your administration,” Ugiagbe said, adding:
“Our doors are open to your instructions, policies, and programmes, as we are ready to bring your policies down to the grassroots, to enable our people to benefit from the dividends of democracy as we will work to ensure your administration succeeds.”
Responding, Deputy Governor Dennis Idahosa, who represented Governor Okpebholo, said: “I have listened to you keenly, the ALGON Chairman.
The governor is a leader of all of us. The election has come and gone and we are all one family. The governor has asked me to assure you that we are one family.
He has also asked me to tell you that we will work closely together.” As if to test the council chairmen’s pledge for collaboration with the administration, Idahosa said: “I guess you are aware that a few weeks ago, the Assets Verification Committee was constituted.
Mr. Governor is committed to transparency and accountability in this government and that committee would not have the resources to go across the 18 local government areas of Edo State.
“The governor would want you to submit your statement of accounts from 4th of September 2023, to date, to the Assets Verification Committee within the next 48 hours (2 days), as that would help and enable the committee to do its job effectively and efficiently…The Governor thanks you for your time.”
But in a matter of days, the promise of “collaboration and working together as a family for the government to succeed” flew out the window, and politics took the front burner, as the 18 chairmen – all members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – reneged on their assurances to Okpebholo, and refused to submit their statement of accounts for verification, as the governor directed.
Following the chairmen’s resistance to the directive, citing their financial autonomy as upheld by the Supreme Court, Okpebholo, in a December 16 petition titled:
“Insubordination and Gross Misconduct by the 18 Local Government Chairmen Over Their Refusal to Submit Financial Records for Scrutiny,” reported the chairmen to the assembly, which, pending investigation, suspended them and their deputies for two months, under Section 20(b) of the Local Government Act, for “insubordination and gross misconduct” for refusal to submit their financial records for scrutiny.
Now, a huge political and constitutional crisis is brewing in Edo State, as the council chairmen have dragged in the judiciary to intervene – and it did intervene by setting aside the two-month suspension the House of Assembly clamped on the chairmen and their deputies.
As reported by ICIRNIGERIA.ORG on Thursday, December 19, a Benin City High Court, presided by Justice Efe Ikponmwonba, has ordered reinstatement of the 18 council chairmen and their deputies to their pre-December 17, 2024, positions, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice adjourned to February 17, 2025, for a hearing.
Directing that hearing notices be issued to the defendants, the court ordered a mandatory injunction, compelling the defendants, including Governor Okpebholo, the Edo State Government, the Attorney-General, and the Accountant-General to restore the claimants to their respective offices, and restrained the defendants from acting on the resolution passed by the House of Assembly suspending the chairmen and their deputies.
Obviously complicating matters for Governor Okpebholo is the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who on Thursday, December 19, declared as “illegal and unconstitutional,” the suspension of the chairmen and vice chairmen of the 18 councils in Edo State.
Fagbemi, fielding questions from journalists in Abuja, said that, based on the Supreme Court ruling of July 11, 2024, granting autonomy to the 774 councils in Nigeria, the prerogative to remove or suspend any elected council official rests with the councillors, adding: “Under the present dispensation, the governor has no right to remove any local government chairman, that much I know.”
Nonetheless, Governor Okpebholo’s fighting back by instituting, on December 18, a seven-member panel to investigate the stewardship of the council chairmen, even as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has jumped into the fray, to investigate the embattled council officials.
Hours after the High Court ordered reinstatement of the council chairmen and vice chairmen on Friday, December 20; a defiant Okpebholo declared that their suspension was within his oversight function of the local governments, as reported by Nigerian Tribune.
What Okpebholo doesn’t need now – certainly not in the future – is unnecessary self-induced distractions. The opposition – with nothing to lose – is at liberty to do anything to distract and divert his attention
Admitting that the suspension of the chairmen has sparked an intense debate, Okpebholo said that: “A closer examination of the Constitution, and the Federal Attorney-General’s comments, reveal that the decisions by the Edo State House of Assembly, vis-avis the Governor of the State, are entirely justified.”
“From a legal perspective, the governor’s request to the House of Assembly, to suspend the chairmen, was done within his constitutional powers.
The House of Assembly had the right to turn down the request but opted to act on it. It is therefore unfair to blame the governor,” Okpebholo said. He argued:
“If the governor had the powers to suspend the council chairmen unilaterally, he would not have resorted to drafting a letter to the House of Assembly.
Again, for the record, the chairmen were not removed from office but suspended due to suspicious activities, and the governor has the right to exercise the power of oversight. “The concept of autonomy is often misunderstood, and in this case, it does not mean that council chairmen cannot be oversight.
The House of Assembly has the power to oversee the activities of the governor, and similarly, the governor has the right to exercise oversight over local government chairmen. The ongoing EFCC investigation of the 18 local government chairmen underscores the importance of accountability in governance.”
Actually in a letter dated December 17, 2024, and signed by its Director of Investigation, Abdulkarim Chukkol, the EFCC has summoned the council chairmen for questioning, requesting certified documents, detailing payroll records, bank statements, and council finances from January 2024 to date, with chairmen from six councils, including Akoko-Edo, Egor, and Esan Central, were summoned to appear on December 19, while others were scheduled for December 20.
As the battle line is drawn, what next for Governor Okpebholo, as the odds seem stacked against him? Will he put his foot down, and breach the rules and the Supreme Court judgment that has granted local governments financial autonomy? That will be illegal and unconstitutional, and against the avowal by the governor to work harmoniously with the opposition!
Will the council chairmen back down, and submit their financials, as directed by the governor? That’s unlikely, as the 18 councils are very strategic, politically and financially, to the presence and participation of the PDP in Edo polity, especially ahead of the 2027 elections, even as the party pins its hope on “retrieving” its alleged “stolen mandate” at the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal holding in Benin City. What Okpebholo doesn’t need now – certainly not in the future – is unnecessary self-induced distractions.
The opposition – with nothing to lose – is at liberty to do anything to distract and divert his attention. But it’s in the governor’s interest, the interest of Edo people, and the daunting tasks before him, to prevent that from happening!
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