Kogi State House of Assembly has called on the State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello to put machinery in place for the conduct of election into office at the various local government councils in the state.
The lawmakers made this call after deliberating on letter sent to the House by Governor Bello seeking to extend the tenure of transition committees for another six months. The tenure expired on 5th May 2017.
The governor had informed the House that the tenure of the transition committees in the state elapsed on the 5th of May, 2017, and solicited the approval of the legislature for an extension of their tenure by six months.
Relying on relevant sections of the local government administration law (as amended) for their action, the lawmakers urged the governor to put the necessary machinery in motion for the conduct of elections into the local government councils at the expiration of the six months extended period for the transition committees.
Recall that the present crop of administrators in the 21 local government areas of Kogi state were inaugurated on 6th May, 2016, and have since exceeded the statutory 6 months in office as provided by the applicable laws and statutes, in particular part III, section 56(1) of the Kogi State local Government (Amended) laws, 2008.
Contributing on the matter, Prince Mathew Kolawole (Kabba-Bunu), Victor Omofaiye (Ijumu), Abdulkareem Kekere (Okehi), Bello Hassan Balogun (Ajaokuta), John Abah (Ibaji) and Ahmed Mohammed (Ankpa I) all described the governor’s message as timely. They called on the executive to prepare the state electoral body for election at the expiration of the six months extended tenure for the caretaker committees.
They opined that the only way to strengthen the local government administration for effective service delivery was to allow democratically elected officials to administer the councils.
