The main Opposition party in Rivers state All Progressives Congress has called on Governor Siminalayi Fubara to respect last week’s judgment of the Supreme Court, which declared it is illegal to run local government areas with caretaker committees.
This was as one of the replaced LG chairmen, Olobarimate Ollor, said the Supreme Court’s judgment had paved the way for the LG chairmen to return and enjoy the six-month tenure extension granted them by the state House of Assembly.
The 23 LG secretariats in Rivers State have been under police occupation since June 16 when the tenure of the elected chairmen ended.
They had attempted to stay in office for an extra six months, citing a recent law by the state Assembly, but Governor Fubara resisted the move and appointed caretaker committees to man the LG secretariats pending the conduct of the LG election in October.
The police, however, took over the LG secretariats, preventing neither the ex-LG chairmen nor the caretakers appointed by Fubara to gain access.
The Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, said the LG secretariats would remain under police occupation pending the decision of the court on the matter.
Last week, ruling on a suit filed by the Federal Government against the 36 states, the Supreme Court declared the use of a caretaker committee to run LG as illegal.
The Publicity Secretary of the Rivers APC Caretaker Committee, Chibuike Ikenga, called on Fubara to obey the Supreme Court to disband the council caretakers that he constituted.
Ikenga said, “The Supreme Court is final. Their position that the caretaker committees are illegal is constitutional, so that is where we also stand. We must obey, we must comply with the judgment of the final court of the land.”
Ikenga said for far too long governors had been usurging the power of the LG and short-changing them in the disbursement of funds.
“We are aware particularly in Rivers State that Governor Fubara does not obey laws, he doesn’t obey court judgments neither does he obey the constitutional prescriptions and provisions, so we will not be surprised.
“It is important to note that the Court of Appeal gave a judgment and that same day governor Fubara came on air to say that he does not recognise any other person than his selected Oko-Jumbo and a committee of friends as the leadership of the House of Assembly and he said the House of Assembly members are gone irrespective of the position of the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
Rivers APC Calls On Gov. Fubara To Obey Supreme Court Ruling On LG Autonomy
