The last time I checked, Imo State – the Eastern Heartland – was still earnestly yearning to witness an era when the twenty-seven Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state would boast of substantive chairmen who are expected to emerge via an electoral process.
The unabated quest has made many concerned onlookers to presume that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, no longer has provision for a Third Tier government otherwise known as ‘Local Government Council’.
It’s noteworthy that the lingering anomaly has existed for countless years ranging from 2007 till date. Under his reign as the State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim came up with a façade that seemed like an LG election towards the end of his tenure in 2011.
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Subsequently, the administration of Chief Rochas Okorocha, having understood the foul play displayed by his predecessor, thought it wise to disengage the elected officers who happened to be the product of the said façade as soon as it assumed duty in 2011.
Under Okorocha’s reign as Imo Governor, little or none was heard as regards LG election in the State. Once or twice, the citizens learnt of an arrangement targeted at the awaited electoral process all to no avail, in spite of all the wails from various quarters.
The current Government headed by Senator Hope Uzodinma is equally apparently toiling the same line, going by the body language. Two years have successfully gone under his watch, yet nothing tangible is being heard regarding the State’s LG polls.
Rather than substantive/elected caucus, what Imolites have invariably been witnessing at the local government level is transition or caretaker administration, whereby some certain individuals under the auspices of ‘Transition Committee’ would be empowered to be at the helm of affairs in the respective LGAs.
We are not unaware of the dangers inherent in suchlike practice, especially in a democratic system like ours. A transition-committee chairman or councilor, who can be disengaged or asked to leave by the sitting governor at any time, is no doubt surrounded with limitations.
There’s certain limits to which he/she is bound to operate as long as his/her reign lasts. Such an administrator is obviously acting directly in line with the directive of the governor who he sees as his boss; suffice it to say that he’s equally one of the aides of the governor.
The Nigerian Constitution wasn’t daft when it considered creating a provision for the third tier government. This is the government that directly touches the lives of the electorate; it’s the government that understands the true need of the people.
An LG Chairman, through the elected councilors, hears the overall views of the electorate in regard to governance. Thus, the Third Tier government is an intermediary between the citizens and the State Government.
It’s noteworthy that this tradition of using the caretaker committee in the LGAs isn’t peculiar to Imo State. Hence, no state across Nigeria is exceptional. Overtime, these governors invariably come up with frivolous excuses as regards the awaited conduct of the LG polls in their respective jurisdictions.
Under Okorocha’s reign, during a parley between him and Imo based journalists, he categorically revealed that he would only conduct election for the Local Government Councils if the legal barriers hindering the awaited polls were withdrawn by their sponsors or plaintiffs.
According to the then governor, some individuals in Imo had filed suits against him over the local government administration in the State, thus he was of the view it was unconstitutional or an insubordination to conduct an election regarding the LGAs with a view to upholding the Rule of Law which his administration had ‘vowed to protect’. He further stated it was more worrisome to notice that those who were sponsors of the aforesaid legal actions happened to be the people persuading him to conduct the election.
Such an excuse tendered by Okorocha was indeed laughable. If he was genuinely ready to conduct the awaited polls, he was required to take all the needed actions toward ensuring the election was duly conducted. Needless to say; the above excuse ought not to be regarded as a tangible reason for the inconsequential delay. We must endeavour to call a spade a spade whenever we’re leading, for posterity’s sake.
If truly there were existing legal barriers as claimed, I the then governor was meant to create a harmony between the government and the aggrieved minds. He ought to had set up a platform that would bring every warring party together, therein let them know the reason they must withdraw the legal suits for the interest of the State at large.
Since the suits in question were filed over LG election, the plaintiffs wouldn’t hesitate to withdraw them if given an obvious and genuine reason to do so, or if they are told that the polls would be conducted thereafter without further ado.
Towards the expiration of his eight-year tenure in Imo, Okorocha once again conducted a façade, which appeared like an LG election, thereby producing purport elected chairmen and councilors just not unlike in the case of Ohakim’s administration.
At the moment the people are looking up to Senator Uzodinma to do the needful. Who knows if he would also cite an instituted legal action as an excuse or barrier?
As a Constitution and Civil Rights activist, I want to remind the sitting governor that the people’s rights are being shortchanged, and the Nigerian Constitution isn’t finding the lingered atmosphere friendly. Hence, the needful ought to be done headlong.
Besides, the governor equally needs to acknowledge that suchlike loophole is liable to mess up any commendable effort he had recorded so far since the inception of his ‘3R administration’. We can’t afford to continue robbing Peter in order to pay Paul.
Spending about fifteen years without Substantive or elected LG Chairmen and Councilors is seriously telling on the State, just to say the least. Hence, those instigating this quagmire are henceforth expected to count their teeth with our tongues.