By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The member representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Afam Ogene, has called on Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, not to ignore calls for local government election in the state.

Ogene, who is the Labour Party House of Reps’ Caucus Leader, made the call in a statement made available to journalists in Awka on Sunday, May 19, 2024.

He said that if Soludo ignores the call and singlehandedly appoint another set of Local Government Transition Committee members, it would an abuse of power and unfair to the development dreams of the people.

The statement by the lawmaker came in response to the correspondence between the office of the governor and the local government chairmen of the Governor’s party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), calling for submission of CVs by interested persons within the party, through the office of the party’s LGA chairmen, for appointment into the Transition Committee.

The statement partly reads: “Records show that Governor Soludo changes LGA Transition Committee members every three months, and have therefore, made these curious changes seven times since assumption of office in 2022. By the time he makes another of such change this month, that would be the 8th time within two years in office.

“That to me, would be an inglorious record by a democratically elected governor. This puppeteering style of leadership, which toys with the destiny, aspiration and desires of the grassroots, must be resisted and not allowed to continue to shrink the development potential of the LGAs.

“The local government ought to be the most important tier of government, as envisaged by the Nigerian Constitution, because it’s not only the tier that is closest to the people, it is also the obvious foundation of both the subnational and the federal government. And should not be at the whims of state governors.

“Such undemocratic practice of appointing LGA administrators, rather that democratic election is an enabler of impunity and lack of democratic accountability and also hurts transparency in the local governments and the state as a whole as those so appointed would only scramble for personal interests during the three months of their stay in office. This does not help the management of scarce resources of scarce resources or the development of the LGAs.

“For instance, what manner of meaningful development plan would a TC chairman articulate and execute within a period of three months? Isn’t it troubling that Governor Soludo, a prominent economist, is promoting this charade contrary to all the economic indices that point to the decreasing economic and social fortunes of the people in the grassroots as a result of the shrinking presence of government development activities in the rural areas?

“What really is Governor Soludo afraid of in conducting elections in the LGAs, in line with his campaign promises and the desires of the people in the grassroots and provisions of the Constitution? It should be noted that other states, such as Delta, Lagos, Edo, Rivers, Kaduna, Awka Ibom, etc, hold elections in the third tier of government, no matter how imperfect; why then are Governor Soludo appointing and discarding LGA administrators as if they are used tissue papers?”

It would be recalled that the Senate on Thursday, May 16, 2024, also accused state governors of misappropriating funds allocated to local government councils in Nigeria, saying that the arm of government was dead in the country, as a result of the overwhelming powers of the state governors over the Council areas.

It further stated that the dream of achieving the objectives of the local government system has encountered harsh realities as successive governments have often eroded local autonomy, limiting their financial resources and control over decision-making.

The Senate called for the Federal Government to stop further allocation of funds to caretaker committee-led local government areas, LGAs, and urged President Bola Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, champion the cause of full autonomy for local governments in the country.

The resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Suleiman Kawu, NNPP, Kano South.

The Senate subsequently resolved that President Tinubu should champion the cause of full autonomy for local governments in the country.