PDP, APC set to clash in Katsina as sacked PDP chairmen set to return to seats

Following a purported Supreme Court judgment reinstating the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) council chairmen and councillors sacked by Governor Aminu Bello Masari in Katsina State, the council may be heading for imminent political crisis.

The embattled chairmen and councillors, whose elections were conducted by the past administration of Dr. Ibrahim Shehu Shema before he left office, were sacked by Governor Masari shortly after he was sworn in.

The Supreme Court had voided laws enacted by the states’ Houses of Assembly which allow governors to sack elected chairmen of local governments and councillors and replace them with appointed administrators.

Masari, who sacked the elected chairmen and councillors in 2015 over alleged violation of state’s laws, inaugurated interim management committees for the 34 councils but the committee members have been dissolved by the state Assembly following the expiration of their tenure.

The sacked chairmen and councillors, it was gathered, were planning to resume their duties at various local government areas of the state, if government remained adamant over the apex court judgment.

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The sacked local government chairmen and councillors, it was learnt, would face stiff resistance from members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and security agencies in the state if they attempt to take over the councils.

A credible source and APC stalwart in the state said: “We are waiting for them, we can’t fight but we will use relevant laws to resist their alleged plan to take over local government councils.”

He affirmed that Governor Masari had obediently followed laws enacted by successful PDP administrations in the state as well as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to dismiss the councils’ chairmen.

However, a PDP chieftain, who craved anonymity, told another media house that the suspended chairmen and their councillors across the state would besiege the 34 council headquarters to resume duties if government continue feigning the court order.

He said the local government elections that produced the suspended chairmen was held in line with extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and relevant laws in the state.