Chairmen of the 23 local government councils in Rivers State seem not to have had it so smooth since 21 of them were elected during the last chairmanship and councillorship polls held on Saturday, May 21, 2011. Election in Degema local government area of the state was held in November 2011 while that of Ogba/ Egbema/ Ndoni local government area would be held in 2013.
What has come to be the many troubles of the local government chairmen in the state in the new dispensation was believed to have began last January when Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi suspended 11 of them for failing to attend a stakeholders meeting convened by the governor to fashion out ways of cushioning the effects of the removal of subsidy from fuel.
?The suspended chairmen were,? Hon. Chimbiko Iche Akorolo, the mayor of Port Harcourt city; Hon. Welendu Amadi, chairman of Ikwerre local government council; the governor’s home-local government and Chief Cassidy Ikegbidi, the chairman of Ahoada-East local government council. Others were; Hon. Awori Miller, Ahoada-West; Hon. Raymond Wokocha, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni; Barrister Tamuno Williams, Okrika; Hon. Maclean Uranta, Opobo/Nkoro and Hon. Urom Nte, Andoni. Also suspended were the chairmen of Asari-Toru and Akuku-Toru local government area of the state, Hon. Ojukaye Flag-Amachree and Hon. Theodore Georgewill, respectively.
Within 24 hour after their suspension, the governor invited the vice-chairmen of the affected local government councils to a meeting at government house, Port Harcourt, where they were sworn in as acting chairmen of their respective local government areas. However, the 11 suspended chairmen were recalled few days after following what the state commissioner for information and communications, Mrs. Ibim Seminatari described as “pleas from party leaders and elder statesmen”.
Few days ago, the Rivers State House of Assembly, whose 32 members belong to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) summoned chairmen of all the 23 local government councils in the state, who are also members of the ruling party to appear before the House over their refusal to pay severance benefits to past elected and appointed local government officials.
The invitation followed a motion titled “To Compel Local Government Council Chairmen To Promptly Pay Severance Benefit As At When Due To Elected And Appointed Local Government Officials” sponsored by Hon. Andrew Anderson Miller representing Opobo/Nkoro Constituency.
Miller maintained that the condition of the individuals who served their local government as vice chairmen, councillors, supervisors, and advisers becomes pitiable at the end of their tenure in office because they were denied of their benefits by the chairmen of the council.
He also explained that the Rivers State Public and Political Office Holder’s Salaries, Allowances and Fringe Benefit (Amendment) Law No. 2 of 2007 states that every elected or appointed public office holder on tenure expects a terminal benefit. The lawmaker prayed the House to direct all local government council chairmen to ensure complete payment of severance benefit to all former political office holders in the state.
Just a day before the House summoned the council chairmen, the state chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) expressed worry the rate at which the local government council chairmen in the state are misappropriating the council funds under the pretext of security votes, calling for caution and legislative regulation.
The party, which spoke through it publicity secretary, Jerry Needam described as “criminal and wicked” the arbitrary allocation to themselves huge sums of money running into tens of millions of naira monthly as security votes and hiding under same to squander the hard earned tax payers’ money with careless abandon.
Arguing that bulk of the security votes could be conveniently used on development projects to give the council areas a face-lift, Needam said that in exercising their oversight functions, the state House of Assembly should as a matter of urgent public interest, come up with a law specifying a reasonable amount of money that should be approved for council chairmen as security votes, pointing out that by so doing, the reckless and irresponsible life styles of most council chairmen would be checkmated.
Apparently rising in defence of council chairmen, the ruling PDP in the state described ACN as “a serial liar bent on deceiving the public even when it knows that the contents of its messages are nothing but bundle of lies coated in serpentine guile”.
A statement issued in Port Harcourt by the PDP spokesman, George Ukwuoma-Nwagba lampooned the opposition party for its “shameless recourse to cheap lies just to score cheap political points. However, it only ends up shooting itself in the arm”.
“The ACN is becoming another synonym to lie as it fruitlessly searches for relevance. Its recent diatribe against PDP council chairmen in the state leaves much sour taste in the mouth. How could ACN accuse local government chairmen of ‘reckless spending of security votes’ but not telling the public he has sworn to deceive how much the chairmen had spent?”
He stated that the council chairmen, working in tandem with Governor Amaechi and security agencies in their respective councils, have worked to achieve both peace and development. Describing the council chairmen as chief security officers in their councils, the PDP spokesman added that “peace reigns in the 23 local government areas of Rivers state. The councils are developing accordingly with the PDP closely monitoring the chairmen who are all members of the party”.
To this end, what the people of Rivers State are anxiously waiting for, is to hear? the outcome of the invitation extended to the council chairmen by the State House of Assembly come Tuesday, May 22, 2012.??
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