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How ‘power-drunk’ Otti illegally appropriated Abia councils – PDP
More missiles have been launched against Alex Otti, Governor of Abia State from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is now accusing him of taking over the running of the local government councils directly in total disregard of the law of the land, which made the third tier of government a distinct level of government from the state.
In the latest attack, the party, which lost power in 2023 after 24 years in the saddle, bewailed a situation in which Otti, allegedly collected the official seals of the 17 Local Government Areas in the state from the local governments’ Heads of Service (HoS), infused their affairs firmly in his office after the dissolved immediate past council chairmen handed over.
Abraham Amah, Abia PDP Vice Chairman/Acting State Publicity Secretary, who relied on “credible, reliable and authentic intelligence,” while describing the development as “blatant act of illegality,” also accused the governor of becoming too power-thirsty that he had now assumed the roles of a governor and chairman of the councils at the same time, adding that the act was not only unconstitutional, and usurpation of the powers of the local councils, but also actionable by law.
Arguing that no bill had been passed into law by the Abia State House of Assembly which mandates the governor to run the local governments as one of the Ministries in Abia State, he said: “This novelty, unfortunately, is one that puts the governor as the arrowhead of those in breach of the Constitution they swore to protect and defend at all times.
“For the purpose of clarity, the local government is a creation of the Constitution of the Federal Government of Nigeria and is in no way an appendage of the State government.
“Though the Constitution mandates the States House of Assembly to make laws for the good governance of the local governments, in no section of it did it make the local government an arm of the State government and its running should therefore not be at the whims of the State governor as we are seeing in Abia today?
“The local government’s finances are run with the states through the process and operation of a Joint Account Allocation Committee, (JAAC), between representatives of the State and the local governments and both tiers are signatories to the local government accounts as funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and other accruals are received monthly and at other times into the joint account.
“The PDP, therefore, finds it curious and strange that Governor Otti would bypass legal procedures and run the 17 Abia local governments as if it were one of the Ministries in the State. By confiscating the Seals of the local governments as it were, the state governor now acts not only as the state governor but also as the Chairman-General of the Abia Local Government system, a system that is very strange and unaccommodated by the letters of the Nigerian laws.
“This unholy effort makes the running of the local governments not only undemocratic, cumbersome and complex but also opaque because there is no check as would ordinarily have been when all the signatories are in the know of how the finances of the local governments are run.”
Contrasting the current situation with that of Otti’s predecessor, Okezie Ikpeazu, whom he said never emasculated or usurped the powers of the councils, he added: “In the absence of elected local government Chairman and Councillors, the convention has been to appoint local government Transition Committees; made up of an appointed Chairman and Councilors to oversee the affairs of the local governments.
“Instructively, the former governor Dr Okezie Ikpeazu never allowed any vacuum in the administration of local governments as he always ensured that the local councils were manned by capable hands, and it is on record that he is one of the few governors across the country that conducted local government elections twice in their eight-year tenure and was committed to conducting the third one before it was scuttled by the Labour Party and its agents, all in a bid to diminish the glowing popularity of former governor Okezie Ikpeazu who brought peace and prosperity to Abians.
“ The danger of running the state outside the confines of the law, is that such ugly precedents being set by Otti with every of his action since he was sworn into office would one-day boomerang and consume everybody including those cheerleaders who are nudging him to act recklessly even in the face of known illegalities.
“We call upon the governor to retrace his steps and allow the Abia local government system to function within the ambit of the law, return the seals to the Heads of Service of local governments, who are by law, custodians of the authority of the local governments in the absence of elected or appointed political heads of the council.
“He should allow them to do their constitutionally assigned duties or at best, appoint Transition Committees to oversee the affairs of the local governments before the conduct of local government elections.
“And to the elders of Abia State, members of the Labour Party and the good people of Abia State, we remind everyone once again, that eternal vigilance is still the price of liberty and that we should collectively prevail upon the state governor, Dr Alex Otti to do what is right before our dear state descends into autocracy as it is gradually, but manifestly tending to with every action of the governor that is condoned by those that should speak up.”
Chidi Odinkalu, Nigeria’s fiery lawyer, law teacher and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), is emphatic that President Bola Tinubu is pushing to perpetuate himself in office, beginning with gaming the electoral process in 2027.
Odinkalu, Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at the Fletcher School, told his host Naija Unfiltered, a popular Nigerian podcast programme, that he was as sure as death that the President would not exit office in 2031, if he succeeded with his current gambit to remain in power beyond next year.
Hear him: “Yes. But as I said, let me repeat myself. There’ll be a third term. President Tinubu has not done all of this just for another four years. There will be a third term. And anybody who is doing, ‘it is not our portion,’ is not reading the evidence.”
To achieve this aim, the activist, who was also emphatic that the National Assembly, would play a role, added: “The current National Assembly is anything but national or an assembly. And if it’s an assembly, it’s not a parliamentary one. Many people have called it a rubber stamp, but I think that is actually abusive of rubber stamps. I think this National Assembly is a disgrace.
Citing how bizarre and completely compliant the national legislature had become to Tinubu, the ex-NHRC’s boss, stated: “If you can change your national anthem in less than 24 hours with no public hearing, no public consultation, no public involvement, it tells you you don’t have a country because a national anthem is fundamental to the construction of a national identity.”
Also referring to the current move by the President to introduce state police, Odinkalu, wondered how the Nigerian Senate would introduce the bill to that effect and proceed towards the first and second readings, as well as committee stage and passage in less than two hours, questioning how that was possible in normal clime.
Hear him: “Once we finish our elections, we’re going to amend our Constitution, introduce a single six-year presidential term. The current incumbent will be elected until 2031. In 2031, what will happen? The question will be, will he be entitled to run on the six-year term or will he not?
“You will then get the best Senior Advocates in Nigeria telling you the law is not retrospective. That is why the administration is supporting the litigation over President Jonathan’s tenure—not because the Constitution is not clear, but because they will say there is precedent. There will be a third term, and I’m prepared to bet on it.”
“If we continue to pay ransom, we are encouraging these criminals to kidnap more people. The cycle will only continue unless we stop rewarding criminality,” were the words of Dauda Lawal, Governor of Zamfara State, with which he blamed those in the habit of paying ransoms as the major factor fuelling the current wave of kidnapping incidents across the country.
Lawal, on Thursday at the ARISE News/THISDAY Town Hall Conference on State Police and National Security in Abuja, told his audience how he flatly refused to pay a ₦300 million ransom demanded by kidnappers who abducted his brothers in 2019.
Reiterating his opposition to negotiating with bandits and renewed his support for the establishment of state police, Lawal, while recounting the incident, said: “My own brothers were kidnapped in 2019, and the kidnappers demanded about ₦300 million. I told them I was not going to pay a dime. If they wanted to kill them, they could go ahead.”
Stating that his brothers were eventually released without any ransom being paid, he argued that paying ransom usually emboldened criminal groups by providing financial incentives for further kidnappings.
He added: “My position on ransom payments remains unchanged. I will not negotiate, and I will not pay ransom to any criminal, no matter what happens.”
Endorsing the move for the establishment of state police, to enable governors have greater operational authority over security within their states, he regretted that the current constitutional arrangement left governors with responsibility for security without corresponding powers to direct security agencies.
His words: “In as much as I am called the chief security officer of the state, I do not have the command-and-control authority to direct the operations of the security agencies. I’m prepared to support the funding of state police if the proposed policing structure is established. I’m confident that decentralised policing will improve intelligence gathering, response time and the overall fight against insecurity.”
Exactly seven years, two months and four days after he forced Walter Onnoghen, the 16th Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) out of office, Danladi Umar, former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), on Thursday, found himself in Kuje prison.
Justice Peter Kekemeke, of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting in Maitama, handed the ex-CCT boss the unwelcome package on Thursday, following his arraignment by the Federal Government on a four-count corruption charge.
Umar’s ordeal began after an investigations revealed that he abused his official position by conferring an undue advantage on himself while serving as head of the tribunal, having in 2021, reportedly using his wife’s bank account to collect the sum of N5.5 million from a contractor engaged to paint the headquarters of the CCT in Abuja.
He was also accuse of using the same account to collect another N6million on January 25, 2024, from a contractor who handled the digitisation of the CCT’s records and yet another N2.43 million a contractor paid as tuition fee of his daughter at Baze University, Abuja.
After pleading not guilty to offences, said to be punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, Christopher Mshelia, lawyer to the FG, prosecuting the matter, applied for his remand in a correctional facility, while urging the court to set a date for the commencement of trial.
His pleas to be freed on bail pending the determination of the case, was opposed by the prosecution, which drew the court’s attention to the fact that it had just been served with the bail application, saying it needed time to respond to it, forcing Kekemeke to adjourn the case till July 15 for hearing while the former CCT boss remained behind bars.
Umar, had as CCT Chairman, on January 23, 2019, issued a controversial ex parte order that led to the removal of a serving Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.
Following the ex parte order, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, on January 25, swore in the next most senior jurist of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to take over the leadership of the judiciary as Acting CJN.
Even though Onnoghen later voluntarily resigned his position as CJN on April 4, Umar went ahead and convicted him on April 18, 2019, on the federal government’s allegation that he had failed to properly declare his assets as required by law.
He gave the federal government the go-ahead to confiscate all monies in five accounts belonging to the former CJN, and also removed him as Chairman of both the NJC and the Federal Judiciary Service Commission (FJSC).
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