4 months ago
20
The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, on Sunday, faulted the National Union of Local Government Employees over its planned protest against the police barricade of the 23 local government council secretariats in Rivers State.
Recall that the NULGE President in Rivers State, Clifford Paul, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Saturday, gave the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, four days to order his men to vacate the 23 LG councils or the union would mobilise its members for a protest.
Paul, according to the statement, said the action of the police had prevented NULGE members from going to work where they earn their livelihood.
Similarly, the Rivers State chairmen of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Alex Agwanwor, and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Ikechukwu Onyefuru, in a joint statement, also condemned the action of the police and backed the NULGE ultimatum to the IGP for his men to vacate the council headquarters or face similar protest.
But the Rivers State ALGON Chairman, Allwell Ihunda, loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, accused NULGE of taking sides in the political crisis in the state.
Ihunda, who stated this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt on Sunday, also faulted Governor Siminalayi Fubara for appointing NULGE members who are council workers into caretaker committees for the 23 LGAs, saying it was wrong except they resigned from their duties.
Ihunda alleged that it was the reason that the
NULGE was collaborating with the NLC and the TUC to stage the protest against the police on Monday, pointing out that the governor had gone ahead to appoint the members of the CTC when the court asked all parties in the matter to maintain the status quo.
He stated, “We are aware that in spite of the matter in the Court of Appeal, on the 19th of June, the Rivers State Governor went ahead to appoint caretaker committee members for the 23 local government areas of the state in spite of the fact that the appeal court had stated clearly that all parties should maintain the status quo on all the suits before the court.
“Now from the list of caretaker committee members we observe that across the 23 LGA appointments were made from NULGE members as part of the caretaker committees whereas these NULGE members are staff of the council. They were not supposed to be.
“That is the reason why we observe recently that NULGE has collaborated with the NLC and TUC to carry out a protest tomorrow, 24th of June, against the police men that the Inspector General of Police has ordered to stay in the councils to maintain law and order and to forestall further deaths that was experienced in Omuma LGA.”
On his part, the embattled chairman of Emuoha local government area, Dr Chidi Lloyd, said it was unfortunate that NULGE in the state had thrown itself into the political dispute in the state.
Lloyd stated, “We have heard from publications by NULGE under the leadership of one Clifford Paul, they have dangerously entered the arena of political dispute.
“These are supposed to be civil servants. But they (NULGE) have made nominations into the illegal caretaker committees who were sworn by Oko-Jumbo and two others.
“And they did not resign their appointments in pursuant to the provisions of the Rivers State Local Government Law. First, for you to be a member of a local government caretaker committee you must resign whatever appointment you hold.
“We are not aware that any of them have resigned. They have taken the oath of office. So they cannot say they are calling for the police to vacate the premises of the various local governments because they want to go to work.
“These are people who are now dangerously aligned in the seeming dispute. We have the capacity to cause whatever violence that they want, but we will not do that because we cannot be seen to be maiming the same people that we are leading.”
Citing the amendment of the local government law by the Martin Amaewhule House of Assembly which extended the tenure of the LG chairmen, he said a similar situation had taken place in Zamfara without anybody throwing stones because according to him it is the way to go in the event that the government is not able to provide the enabling environment for elections to hold.
“The Assembly extended the tenure of the local government chairmen in Zamfara for six months. Our sister state here, Akwa Ibom has also done it. What we have here (Rivers) is a situation where the Governor is inept, inexperienced and is now open to all kinds of advice, including from people who want to benefit from the system.
“So we are calling on the National President of NULGE to warn his members in Rivers State. We are also calling local government councils staff to refrain from any protest that their greedy leaders want to drag them into.”
English (US) ·