All the 16 elected local
government chairmen and their 177 councillors have been placed on indefinite
suspension by the state House of Assembly.
The News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) reports that the chairman of the House Committee on Information, Chief
Gboyega Aribisogan, announced the indefinite suspension at a news conference
after plenary on Tuesday, December 18, in Ado-Ekiti.
Aribisogan, who said that
the suspension would pave the way for a forensic audit of the councils, added
that the continued stay in office of the elected officials would obstruct the
course of investigation.
According to him, the
committee’s report exposed a great deal of corruption and other sharp practices
to the detriment of the people of the council areas.
He alleged that most of the
sacked council chairmen awarded white elephant contracts to cronies and friends
after which such projects would be executed by direct labour using council
equipment.
Aribisogan, however, urged
the executive to immediately commence reforms in the administration of the
local governments.
He said it was also
resolved that appropriate sanctions should be meted to any erring official
found culpable.
Aribisogan, who also said
the assembly’s resolution was constitutional, urged all the affected persons to
vacate office immediately and hand over government properties in their care to
the Directors of Administration.
He dismissed the
insinuations in some quarters that the elected officials, who were all members
of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were being compelled to join
the All Progressives Congress (APC).
NAN reports that the
suspended officials were elected about a year ago.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng
previously reported that Lere Olayinka, the media aide to Ekiti state former
governor Ayodele Fayose, told Governor Kayode Fayemi to pay workers’ salaries
and pensions with the over N30 billion his government already received from the
federal government.
Olayinka disclosed that the
N30 billion refund was for federal roads construction, arrears of budget
support and Paris Club refund.
The spokesperson of the
former governor asked Fayemi to meet the responsibility “instead of jumping up
and down, lying against his predecessor.”
No comments:
Post a Comment