LOCAL government councils in the country, which are not governed by elected officials, may have their statutory allocations suspended if President Goodluck Jonathan accepts the recommendation of his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak.

Speaking against the background of the reinstatement by the court, of executives of local governments inImo State dissolved by Governor Rochas Okorocha on assumption of office, the presidential aide told journalists in Abuja, on Friday, that unless the measure was taken, state governors would continue to act with impunity and violate the provisions of the constitution.

Alhaji Gulak, who noted that the Nigerian constitution does not recognise transition committees for local governments, appealed to the Federal Government to seriously consider withholding the funds to restore sanity in the third tier.

According to him, “I believe the government must revisit this issue. I believe and it is my own opinion that unless and until councils are run by elected officials, the FG should consider not releasing the funds that belong to local governments.

“I think the Federal Government must critically look at this. If this happens, I think that the governors involved will make sure that at any given time, the local government councils are run by elected officials. If not, that tier of government should not be given their statutory fund and it should be suspended, unless these councils are run by elected officials in accordance with section seven of the constitution,” he stated.

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written by chidi, July 07, 2012

I concur. I believe something have to be done to stop this madness.Every Local Government Area should be run by elected officials and not governor's appointtees. All the governors talk about democracy only when it affects them but not when it affects the LGAS which they deny robust leadership. What is happening now is that those LGAS are not been run by people that campaigned for the positions with yardsticks which they could be assessed with like campaign manifestoes.

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