Edo Assembly Sacks Elected Chairmen, Councillors

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
There are strong indications that the elected local government chairmen in Edo State would have their councils dissolved on Thursday.

This is sequel to the directive by the the House of Assembly monday asking all the 17 local government chairmen to hand over the administration of their respective councils to the Head of local government administration as their tenures ends April 21, 2016.

The directive as gathered however, excluded Esan North East Local Government Area following the rerun that took place in the local government.

The House directive followed the presentation of a constitutional observation moved by Mr. Sunday Osazemwinde, (APC Ovia North East 1) constituency and seconded by Mrs. Ativie Elizabeth, ( APC Uhunwode) constituency.

Osazemwinde said the tenure of the chairmen in all the affected councils as prescribed by the local government law 2000 allows for a tenure of three years following the conduct of their election on April 20, 2013.
Osazemwinde said section 10(1) and 18(1) of the local government law 2000 allows for three years tenure for chairmen of local government.

“The State Independent Electoral Commission ( EDSIEC) is supposed to have conducted election within 90 days before the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent chairmen.

“It behoves on the parliament to mandate the chairmen to hand over the administration of their respective councils to the Heads of local government administration as it has become clear from all indications that there are no plans to conduct local government elections in the near future,” he said.

The lawmakers unanimously adopted the resolution prompting the speaker, Victor Edoror, directing the affected chairmen to hand over the administration of their councils to the Heads of local government administration on or before April 21, 2016.

Also, the House has directed the chairman and members of the State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) to appear before it on April 19 to explain why the commission has not been able to conduct local government elections.

The State commissioners of Finance, Education, Housing and Urban Development and Environment have also been summoned by the house to explain the financial implication of the Edo State University, Iyamo.