Rights Activist urges Governor Ododo to put machinery in place to conduct local government elections

By Obansa Ibrahim, Lokoja

A human rights activist in Kogi state, dris Miliki Abdul, Executive Director, Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR), has urged Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, to put machinery in place to conduct local government elections as quickly as possible in view of the recent supreme court judgment of July 11, 2024.

He noted that the judgement will negatively affect the effective operations of the 21 Local councils in the state, particularly now that the allocations are to be paid directly to Local Government Councils with immediate effect.

While commending the supreme court for the landmark decision, Idris Miliki Abdul, stressed that with the supplementary budget approved by the State Assembly on the 5th of July, 2024, the Kogi Governor and its government can no longer claim it has no funds to conduct Local Government Elections.

He noted that the Section of the Constitution for joint allocations automatically got deleted in line with the judgement without NASS Amendment.

Speaking further Miliki added that the appointment of Caretaker committees is illegal and unconstitutional, saying no governor has any powers to appoint any Caretaker Committee Chairman in any council

“Meaning, state are to from now cease to operate local government caretaker committee chairmanship, as any state still operating local government caretaker committee will not be given any allocation and such allocation will be withheld and not released to neither the state governors nor the local government caretaker committee chairmen any more.

“The above pronouncement by the supreme court have further vindicate us in Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR) as we have consistently advocated and continue to advocate for democratic dispensation at Local Government Level, that will promote financial autonomy of Local Government Administration in Kogi State.

It will be recalled, that the last democratically “elected Local Government Council tenure in Kogi State ended on 14 December, 2023. And Caretakers was illegally imposed by the immediate past administration on the 9th January, 2024 and subsequently, the current administration in Kogi State in collaboration with Kogi State House of Assembly extended the tenure of the Local Government Council Chairmen perpetrating illegality in the face of legitimacy. We are worried about the situation that will befall the Local Government staff and the security situation at Local Government level in Kogi State.

“We call on the Kogi State Governor to reverse the extension of the tenure of Local Government Council as pronounced by State Assembly on Friday 5th July, 2024 and replace them with the Directors of Local Government across the state.

“We recommend, that for the purpose of payment of salary and security of the Local Government, the Kogi State Government should continue to make money available inform of loan to the Local Government Council pending when democratically elected Local Government Council will be put in place.