Anambra, Ogun, Katsina, seven govs stick to illegal LG caretaker panels
No fewer than 10 states have not conducted elections into local governments despite the absence of elected officers in the councils.
Investigations on Monday showed that some of the local governments were being administered by caretaker committees constituted by state governors.
This contradicts a 2016 judgment of the Supreme Court, which voided laws enacted by state Houses of Assembly that empowered governors to sack elected local government chairmen and councillors and replace them with caretaker committees.
Findings showed that states, which had yet to conduct local government elections despite the expiration of elected officers’ tenures included Ogun, Katsina Anambra, Kwara, Osun, Zamfara and Sokoto.
Also, Imo, and Oyo state governments sacked elected officers, whose tenures had not ended and replaced them with caretaker committees like the seven states mentioned earlier.
Although Edo State has no local government caretaker committees, the LGs are being administered by heads of administration.
Sokoto yet to hold LG polls since 2016
Among states that have not conducted local government elections is Sokoto State, which in 2019 constituted caretaker committees after the expiration of the three-year tenure of council officers, who were elected in 2016.
A Peoples Democratic Party leader in the state, Mallam Ibrahim, explained to one of our correspondents the delay in holding the elections.
He stated, “The delay cannot also be divorced from politics. The PDP being the party in government has to take into consideration many factors, especially zoning of chairmanship and other positions.”
The state Independent Electoral Commission has, however, fixed March 27 as the date for the next local government elections in the state.
Last LG polls held in Katsina in 2014
It was learnt that the last time Katsina State held local government elections was in 2014.
Investigations showed that since Governor Aminu Masari assumed office in 2015, no local government election had been held in the state.
Masari’s dissolution of elected local government councils in 2015 led to several court cases, which the governor cited as reasons for not holding LG polls.
Efforts by The PUNCH correspondent to get the reaction of the governor’s Special Adviser on Politics, Kabiru Shuaibu, did not succeed as he did not pick calls to his phone nor responded to an SMS sent to him.
Anambra yet to hold LG polls since 2013
In Anambra State, the local government elections were held last in the state in 2013.
Justifying the failure of the state to hold local government elections, the state Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C-Don Adinuba, said the opposition parties took the state to court over the matter. According to him, until the matter is settled in court, the state can’t conduct the polls.
Directors of personnel running Kwara LGs
In Kwara State, although the tenure of local government officials, who were elected on November 1, 2017, expired on November 31, 2020, findings indicated that the state had not conducted local government elections.
It was gathered that directors of personnel management had been running the affairs of the councils in the state since June 2019 when chairmen were suspended for alleged mismanagement of funds .
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, failed to pick calls to his phone nor responded to an SMS sent to him.
Also, Ogun State has not conducted local government elections since 2019 when the state governor , Dapo Abiodun, assumed office.
The state last conducted the local government elections October 8, 2016 during the administration of former governor, Ibikunle Amosun.
Abiodun, who assumed office two years ago, has extended the tenure of chairmen and members of local government transition committees three times since he inaugurated them in January 2020.
The governor cited COVID-19 pandemic and paucity of funds as reasons for the delay in holding the elections.
Attempts to get comments from the Commissioner for Information, Waheed Odusile and the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kunle Somorin, failed.
They did not reply a text message sent to their mobile phones. Punch
