The Benue State government has ordered the three recently sacked Local Government Council Caretaker Chairmen of Ukum, Gboko and Katsina-Ala to vacate their offices with immediate effect.

The directive followed claims by two of the sacked Council Chairmen that they had not received official communication from the state government about their sack.

It will be recalled that Governor Hyacinth Alia had on Tuesday February 19, 2024, sent an executive communication to the Benue State House of Assembly requesting the sack and replacement of Tavershima Agber of Gboko LG, Pst. Gideon Haanongon of Ukum and Francis Zanzan of Katsina Ala LGC for alleged misconduct and misappropriation of council funds.

The trio in the communication was immediately replaced by Verlumun Avar for Gboko LGC, Victor Iorzaa, Ukum LGC and Justin Shaku for Katsina Ala LGC, who were cleared by the Assembly.

However, following insistence by two of the Chairmen that they were still in charge of their Councils, the Special Adviser to the Governor, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftancy Affairs, BLGCA, Dr. Dennis Akura affirmed their sack by the Governor and ordered that they immediately handover to the next in line who are their Deputies.

He said: “There is a law in place guiding the smooth operation of the Local Governments in the state, it was on the premise of that law that Governor Alia requested for the replacement of the three Council Chairmen.

“And we here at the Bureau overseeing the administration of the Local Governments in the state have accordingly communicated to the affected Local Governments for action.

“There were allegations levelled against them and they were asked to defend themselves and their defence was not good enough, that is why they were sacked. And when you are sacked you leave the office and hand over to the next person who is the Deputy. The directive is very clear.”

“We, at the BLGCA operate a zero account expenditures and that is what the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee, JAAC, is all about.

“Therefore, it is the LGCs that spends their money and so, anytime we are informed of misappropriation of funds, we arrest the situation immediately. So the Governor has taken a decision and we have communicated same to the affected chairmen,” he added. (Vanguard)

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