Politics

Adamawa: PDP chieftains threaten to sue Gov Fintiri over LG transition c’tees

Fintiri

By Tom Garba, Yola

Some chieftains of the reformed Peoples Democratic Party (r-PDP) have vowed to sue governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri over the constitution of transition committees to oversee the administration of the 21 local governments of the state.

Governor Fintiri has upon the expiration of the tenure of the immediate past LGA chairmen on Dec 8, 2021 appointed a transition committee to run the affairs of the 21 local governments of the state.

But in a statement made available to this medium Saturday, Dr. Umar Ardo, Hon Ethan Bugi and Hon Ibrahim Ahidjo Karlahi all chieftains of (r-PDP) vowed to challenge the “illegal” action in court.

“We have taken note that the Adamawa State House of Assembly has purportedly approved for the state government to establish so-called Local Government Transition Committees to run the affairs of the 21 Local Government Councils across the state.

“This is clearly an illegal legislation and any action taken by the government on the basis of this so-called legislative act will be unlawful.

“To give a facade of legal backing to this illegality, Governor AU Fintiri is reported to have quoted the following law as justification – vis:

“Pursuant to section 4 (2) of the Adamawa State Local Government Establishment and Administration (Amendment) Law No.4 of 2019 which provides that where for any verifiable reason it is not practically possible to conduct Local Government Elections, the Governor shall constitute a transitional committee for all the 21 LGC’s pending the conduct of the elections.

“However, Section 7 (1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) also provides as follows:

“The system of local government by democratically elected LGC’s is under this constitution guaranteed; and accordingly the government of every state shall subject to Section 8 of this constitution ensure their existence under a law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.

“To the fact that Section 7 of the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees a democratically elected local government council, any law that is inconsistent and in conflict with this constitutional provision is null and void to the extent of the inconsistency and conflict.

“The Adamawa State Local Government Establishment and Administration Law, which provision as quoted above by the governor is clearly inconsistent and in conflict with the provisions of the constitution, cannot be different.

“Our national constitution cannot guarantee anything only for a subsidiary law of a state to obviate it – not for a single day! This will be an act of impunity and arbitrariness. It must not be allowed to stand.

“To this end, therefore, we will go to court and challenge the validity of this law vis~a~vis the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the statement said.

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