There are indications that the administration of Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) might be headed for collision with the 23 local government chairmen elected in March 2022 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Already, the chairmen have vowed not to obey Alia’s directive that they hand over the reins of power and proceed on suspension as recommended by the State House of Assembly.
They made the declaration on Saturday in reaction to the the Assembly’s resolution and the directive by the Permanent Secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to suspend them on the orders of the governor.
The chairmen said they have briefed their lawyers to file a contempt suit against the government for failing to respect an earlier injunction restraining it from sacking them from office.
However, Alia, through his Chief Press Secretary Tersoo Kula, said it is not a sack order but a suspension.
He added that the suspension is to pave the way for thorough investigations into the income and expenditure of the councils which, allegedly showed traces of misappropriation based on audit reports received so far.
The 23 local government chairmen elected on the platform of the opposition PDP met with the governor on June 20 to turn in their reports of income and expenditure.
After the meeting, which some of the chairmen feared might be their last, Governor Alia surprisingly said dissolving them was not on his mind.
But the situation appeared to change days later when he received audit reports from the local councils, which he forwarded to the State House of Assembly for investigation, leading to the resolution of the house to suspend them from office.
But the chairmen said they would not obey the directive to hand over before their tenure elapses in 2024, adding that they have prepared a lawsuit against the government for contempt of court.
The standoff between the local government chairmen and the governor appears to be the latest episode in an ongoing political battle between both parties in Benue, following the PDP’s loss in the March 2023 governorship election to the APC.
