Jigawa Assembly reinstates 4 suspended council chairmen six days before tenure expires

Barely six days to the expiration of the tenure of local government council chairmen, the Jigawa State House of Assembly has reinstated four suspended chairmen.

This follows the presentation of the committee’s report during the house plenary on Thursday.

DAILY POST reports that the House has suspended four local government council chairmen over alleged misconduct, negligence and injudicious use of public funds.

The affected council chairmen include Bappa Shinge of Auyo LGA; Bala Usman-Chamo of Dutse LGA; Ahmed Rufa’i of Gumel LGA; and Shehu Sule-Udi of Ringim LGA.

The House also set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the suspended council chairmen and further investigate the matter.

Chairman of the committee, Aminu Zakari, said members of the committee had carefully reviewed the documents and came up with 11 recommendations.

Some of the recommendations include issuing of stern warning to the affected chairmen to desist from any act unethical or unbecoming of the holder of the office of local government council in both administrative and financial dealings.

It also recommended that the House should ‘graciously consider the pleas of the suspended council chairmen’ and lift the suspension against the chairmen and allow them to resume their duties.

Consequent to the resolution of the Assembly through voting, the Speaker, Haruna Aliyu, recalled the four chairmen to resume office with immediate effect.

The tenure of the current local government chairmen is expected to expire in June 2024 but the amended law extended council election to June 2025 and provides an opportunity for the state government to appoint caretaker chairmen.

DAILY POST findings revealed that the suspended chairmen were reinstated only to allow them to enjoy their full benefits after which a caretaker chairmen will be appointed to serve for one year.