Crusaderhotnews
_...a notorious path for Edo, her people_
By Gidigba Group
The Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has continued to brazenly and audaciously violate constitutional provisions and by extension, Supreme Court judgement granting autonomy to local governments in Nigeria.
For the avoidance of doubt, local governments, world over are interconnected through associations, so that constitutional breach in one region has the capacity to become a topical issue in another region.
By the foregoing, Governor Okpebholo's audacious and brazen violation of constitutional provisions granting autonomy to local governments presents our country as a notorious and lawless entity before the international community.
An attempt to annihilate local government autonomy as now witnessed in the Okpebholo-led administration requires concerted intervention, for which the Tinubu-led administration should be seen leading; President Tinubu must now speak directly to the Edo State Governor, who has seemingly waged a full scale war on local government autonomy in Edo State, lawlessly preventing elected local government Chairmen from carrying out their constitutional duties.
The Tinubu-led administration must also chest out to clear gray areas as it concerns the local government autonomy, particularly the direct FAAC allocation to local governments and the overbearing influence that the intermediate tier of government—state governments continue to exercise on local governments despite Supreme Court ruling on LG autonomy.
With the first 100 days of the Okpebholo-led government fast-approaching, observers who have beamed their torchlights on the activities of the governor since taking over last November, have shown no signs of satisfaction thus far; rather than vigorously pursuing the provision of essential services to Edo people, Okpebholo has deliberately soiled his hands in pits of lawlessness, approaching governance with a vengeful disposition, rather than working for the people.
Okpebholo must understand that election is long over, whereas the legitimacy of his government is now being challenged in court, the governor must put politics aside, and work for the people as there can be no vacuum in governance.
The illegal acting Chairmen or supervisors he has installed across the 18 local government Councils in Edo and their inability to drive development down the grassroot as a result of the illegality they carry like a badge of honour, continue to send wrong signals that Edo is a place where anything can happen without recourse to constitutional provisions.
Little wonder Dr. Isaiah Osifo, a former Chief of Staff and former governorship candidate in Edo State, in a recent interview on NTA, expressed displeasure over Okpebholo's audacious violation of constitutional provisions and the Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy; Osifo called on President Tinubu to prevail on Okpebholo as the President is the only one that can correct the lawlessness now prevalent across Edo Councils under Okpebholo's watch.
Osifo decried persistent overambitious control that the Edo State Governor wants to exercise on local government despite the extant Supreme Court ruling and other Court injunctions reaffirming the ruling of the apex court and criminalizing acting Chairmenship.
"If you have an effective local government, you are going to have an effective state government, viz-a-viz, effective federal government, but when you frustrate local government, all the federal and state policies will be mere theoretical, because the actualization of federal and state policies can be realized if you have a robust and effective, well-funded, autonomous, constitutionally recognized local government Councils in Nigeria", Osifo noted.
He called on the Inspector General of Police, the Edo State Commissioner of Police and other relevant authorities to enforce court rulings bothering on local government Councils in Edo.
Unfortunately, Edo appears to be sitting on a keg of lawlessness, going by Okpebholo's audacity to violate constitutional provisions, and brazenly disregard Supreme Court ruling, an ugly development that is fast-placing Edo and her people on a very notorious path, which are now daily reportage on the media and even on national dailies.
Okpebholo must let constitutional democracy and local government autonomy breathe.
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