The 18 Edo State local government chairmen who were suspended on Wednesday challenged the State House of Assembly, claiming that they could not be removed from office or suspended.
The House reportedly suspended the council chairmen for two months on Tuesday due to allegations of misbehavior.
The judgment was made by the MPs in response to a petition against the council chairmen filed by Governor Monday Okpebholo.
Under the auspices of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria’s Edo State branch, or ALGON, the LG chairmen protested their suspension during a news conference in Benin City.
Orhionmwon LGA chairman Newman Ugiagbe, who briefed the media, emphasized that the House of Assembly’s alleged suspension on Tuesday, December 17, 20204, was against court orders.
Ugiagbe, who is also the chairman of ALGON for Edo State, stated that the council chairmen’s term, which began on September 4, 2023, will not finish until 2025.
He claimed that the State House of Assembly’s alleged suspension of them from office was unconstitutional, extra vires, void, and has no bearing at all.
He said that in lawsuits against the state government, the Edo State High Court and the House of Assembly had ordered the defendants to refrain from dissolving the democratically elected council executives before the conclusion of their three-year term.
The state ALGON chairman said that on December 17, 2024, the association reminded the Speaker of the House about a second lawsuit against the governor, Okpebholo, with the case number B/3070s/2024.
The chairmen were granted an interim injunction by the state High Court 2 to prevent the defendants from interfering, obstructing, or upsetting the claimants’ exercise of their constitutional rights over all assets and cash that were allotted to them from the Federation Account, he added.
He went on to say that the defendants were prohibited by the courts from suspending, dismissing, redeploying, interfering, or otherwise affecting their councils’ management and administration.
Ugiagbe also cited a Supreme Court ruling in a case involving the Attorney General of the Federation, Abia State, and 36 other parties. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the 36 state governors and the House of Assembly, or their privies, had no authority to dissolve or meddle in the management or administration of local governments by using state powers derived from laws passed by the House of Assembly or (anyhow so-called) executive orders or other actions (anyhow so-called).
The 18 local government representatives who were elected in the September 2, 2023, election and sworn in on September 4, 2024, are still the executive chairmen of their respective local government councils, and we are carrying out our constitutional duty as the councils’ chief executive officers.
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According to the aforementioned, the Edo State House of Assembly’s decision to suspend the chairmen and vice chairmen on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, in response to Governor Monday Okpebholo’s request, is ultra vires and, as a result, void because it is legally based on nothing. In addition, it is a violation of court orders,” he stated.
To safeguard all of the local government councils’ assets and premises, Ugiagbe urged security services and other governmental organizations tasked with upholding the law.
He asked that security be sent to all 18 local government secretariats to protect the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Constitution, which the Edo State House of Assembly is purportedly undermining.
As legitimately elected political office holders, Ugiagbe pointed out that the deployment of security personnel would help to create an environment that would facilitate the seamless execution of their duties.
Recall that the Edo State House of Assembly suspended the 18 local government chairmen and their deputies at its plenary session on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, in response to a petition submitted by Governor Monday Okpebholo against them.
The governor had charged the council officials of egregious misconduct and insubordination in the petition.
The State Asset Verification Committee was not given the financial account statements of their local governments by the council chairmen, he claimed.
