The 23 local government council chairmen in the state recently suspended from office as approved by the Benue State House of Assembly said they did not recognise the purported directive by the state House of Assembly and Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs suspending them and elected councillors from office.
This was made known recently at a press conference held at the state secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Makurdi the state capital by a selected suspended council chairmen on behalf of other chairmen. They said as elected council chairmen, they were protected by the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as the third tier of government.
They argued that they were elected into office by the electorate of Benue State as guaranteed under the establishment law of the state. As such, it was therefore absurd to be sacked in a manner as purported by the state Assembly and Bureau for Government and Chieieftaincy Affairs.
According to the council chairmen, their suspension from office was a subversion of justice and high level impunity since the National Industrial Court, Makurdi division had barred Benue State Government at all levels from taking any action as it sought to temper with their lawfully recognised mandate as elected council chairmen.
They lamented that instead of leading the way on the quest for strengthening an order of law and respect for due process, Governor Alia was flagrantly promoting impunity and anarchy as seen in the actions of the state Assembly and Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
The embattled council chairmen insisted that they do not recognise the purporting of their suspension from office from such quarters and will not give heed to same or comply with directives that emanate from the two bodies.
The suspended council chairmen vowed that they will not surrender to illegality and impunity as being contrived against them, disclosing that surrendering to their unlawful purported suspension will amount to doing a disservice to Benue electorate who gave them their mandate.
It will be recalled that Mr. Aondona Dajo led Benue State House of Assembly on Wednesday June 21th, 2023 approved the suspension of all the 23 local government council chairmen in the state for financial misappropriation as sent to it by the Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia.
