Reactions Trail LG Caretaker Committees In Rivers

As members of the newly
constituted Caretaker Committees in 21 local government councils in Rivers State settle down for work, reactions have begun to trail the constitution of Caretaker Committees in the affected councils.
Following the expiration of the three-year tenure of the councils’ executives, penultimate Friday, the State governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi dissolved the councils and constituted caretaker committees to run the affairs of the affected councils.
But while many people hailed the immediate constitution of the caretaker committees as lawful, some others have condemned the action as unconstitutional.
Rivers State Chapter of the Forum of Registered Political Parties while condemning the constitution of caretaker committees in the 21 local government areas, appealed to Governor Amaechi to prevail on the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to conduct fresh election into the 21 local government councils that were recently dissolved and re-constituted with caretaker committees.
The forum, in a statement signed by Dr. Bisi Odota and Hon. Terry Godfrey, also urged the state electoral body to either commence the process of the conduct of local government councils election or resign, as the electoral body does no longer merit the remuneration it earns from tax payers’ money.
According to the forum, “section 7, sub-section 1 of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria recognizes the democratization of all local government councils by democratic process”.
The forum further warned that any delay and disruption of the democratic process in the local governments could be a threat to the nation’s democracy.
The spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Jerry Needam also condemned the formation of caretaker in the 21 local government areas of the state, saying the constitution of Caretaker Committee was against the state local government law.
He said that the dissolved council chairman were supposed to have handed over to another elected Chairmen or replaced by head of local government personnels in the areas. He did not however support his claim with constitutional provisions.
Needam attributed the constitution of caretaker committee to run the 21 local government councils to the fear of PDP to winning all the local government area elections in the state.
But a Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner, Austin Edenkenya said the constitution of care-taker committee in the 21 local government areas by the Rivers State Government was in accordance with the state local government law.
According to him, the state local government laws empowered the governor and the Rivers State House of Assembly to manage the administration of local government areas in the state.
He said, “section 12, sub-section (g) actually talks about the governor dissolving local government councils, while sub-section 3 of the same section said that, where the State House of Assembly is not satisfied with any dissolution of local government council, the governor has the rights to set up care-taker committee to pilot the affairs of the council for a stipulated period before local government election”.

Enoch Epelle