|
Listen now
|
By George Kajo, Makurdi.
Benue State governor, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, has debunked accusations from council chairmen in the state that he has sacked them from office.
The governor made the denial while reacting to a press conference organized by the suspended council chairmen, who accused him of sacking them from office despite a subsisting court order barring their sack.
Recall that the Benue State House of Assembly had during plenary session on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, recommended for the suspension of all the 23 local government chairmen as well as their various legislative arms over corruption allegations.
The recommendations were upheld by the state executive and the chairmen directed to handover their offices to the various DGSAs of their councils.
However, in reaction to the governor’s directive, the council chairmen had during a press conference on Saturday, accused governor Alia of flouting a court judgement, going ahead to sack them from office.
Governor Alia who reacted through his Chief Press Secretary, Sir Tersoo Kula, said he was surprised that the council chairmen have chosen to react this way, insisting that they have only been suspended from office to pave way for a seamless investigation and not sack as alleged by former Council Chairmen.
“The Governor merely acted on the correspondence from the State Assembly which recommended suspension of the council chairmen, pending when they will complete their investigations into cases of corruption alleged to have been committed by them”.
He denied knowledge of any court judgment saying even if there is any, it was merely speculative, especially that a cause of action had not arisen as at the time the chairmen are talking about a court order or judgement.
“The Governor is a man who obeys the law; he will never do anything to breach a court order. So, even if there exist a court order not to sack council chairmen, at least there is none barring lawmakers from investigating them”.
“But are they really insulated from appropriate sanctions by the extant constitutional provisions? They should come to equity with clean hands”.
“Perhaps, they may have been misled into assuming that they are entitled to political immunity as ‘elected’ council chairmen”.
Governor Alia therefore, urged the suspended council chairmen to be patient, as they will be availed the opportunity to defend themselves before the House of Assembly committee, stating that those not found guilty of the charges will be reinstated.
It will be recalled that, the 23 Local Council Chairmen in Benue State at news conference in Makurdi on Saturday, accused governor Hycinth Alia of sacking them from office.
Led by the state ALGON Chairman who is also the Chairman of Guma local Government council, Dr Michael Uba, they vowed to resist impunity and will remain on their duty post as Chief Security Officers on Monday.
The Council Chairmen who were sworn – in on 29th June 2022 for a tenure of two years will be marking one year in office on 29th June, 2023.