The accusations by the Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP against Governor Monday
Okpebholo that he violated local government administration law is not
correct, but the governor acted in accordance with the constitution to ensure
accountability in the local government administration.
The Commissioner for Information and Communication,
Hon Paul Ohonbamu in a reaction to a call by the Chairman of the PDP
caretaker committee, Tony Aziegbemi on the Attorney General of the Federation,
Lateef Fagbemi to halt all allocations to the state government said the governor should not be blamed for
the impeachment of the local government Chairmen by the PDP Councillors.
According to him, "Pursuant to Section 7 of the
Nigeria constitution, each local government must run democratically and it is
the duty of the state to pass law for the good running administration and
control of local governments.
Pursuant to that section, the Edo state House of
Assembly passed the local government law and it was the House of Assembly that took action against the chairmen and their Vice who refused to present their
books when the governor requested for accountability.
The governor wrote to the House of Assembly that has
oversight power over himself also, and
It was the House of Assembly that suspended the local government chairmen for
failing to be transparent and accountable.
In the same vein, it was their councilors who had been
angry over the running of the local government administration by the chairmen
that impeached them. It was the PDP led house that suspended and impeached
their chairmen, therefore where did the governor come in.
The House of Assembly has the power to even impeach the Governor and
Deputy, this they did towards the end of the last administration when they
impeached the then Deputy Governor.
Impeachment is part of the law and democracy . It
should therefore not be seen as an abominable act.
The chairmen were impeached by their councilors who
wanted to become acting chairmen or hold
one position or the other because impeachment is part of democracy and the
governor should not be blamed for the plight of the chairmen and their vice
The councilors are to be blamed for the impeachment of
the chairmen and not the governor.
"It would be recalled that Oredo local government
workers are in court against their chairman. If they have administered funds well, they will not be in court,
therefore the allegation of non payment
of salaries by the state government is not true, they are just coming up with
fake imaginary figures
The PDP
accusation of ongoing
constitutional crisis and extermination of constitutional democracy in the
state is baseless because all steps were taken to ensure that the right thing
was done for accountability sake, but the chairmen flouted the orders of the
House of Assembly, and it is not true
that the governor was involved in the impeachment of the council chairmen
either.
From all indications, it is very obvious that the
Chairman of the PDP Caretaker committee, Tony Aziegbemi and the remnant of the
party are crying wolf to win the sympathy of Edo people with their fictitious
and unfounded accusations against governor Monday Okpebholo who is focused on
delivering the dividends of democracy to Edo people
Hon Paul Ohonbamu
Commissioner for Information and Communication
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