The attention of Kogi Central Media Crew has been drawn to a watery and weightless piece written by Idris Maliki Abdul, the self acclaimed Executive Director, Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR), Lokoja.
It is important and germane for the Media mouthpiece of Kogi Central to thematically respond to some of the tainted and baseless points raised by the unknown mushroom Human Right Activist, though we would have ignored him, but for the sake of the unsuspecting members of the public, we choose to school him appropriately free of charge.
It is an indisputable fact that Local Government is the third tier of government as entrenched in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria Section 7(1) as amended, that “there shall be democratically elected Local Councils in Nigeria as affirmed by both apparent Courts, but it is also wise to explicitly say that there are exceptions to some laws being made to govern the States based on circumstances beyond the control of people or in this case the State government.
However, it’s on record that there is a wide variation in the resources that accrued to State governments (including the 21 LGAs). This in effect, necessitated the need for the Federal government to set up Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to help develop a widely acceptable revenue sharing formula for the three tiers of government in Nigeria.
Recall that Kogi State Governor, His Excellency, Alh. Yahaya Bello addressed the members of the public on the constraints that hindered his inability to conduct Local Government elections and transmitted same to the State House of Assembly for approval. He stated clearly that paucity of funds in the State coffers deprived the State from going ahead with the Local Government polls.
Therefore, the appointment of the Administrators to help oversee the affairs of the Local Councils is a necessity in Kogi State and some States facing similar financial challenges. At a time the State is having financial liabilities occasioned by maladministration by previous Administrations, Gov. Yahaya Bello is undeterred as he is making concerted efforts to reawaken infrastructural decay and as well meet up with salaries and other recurrent expenditures.
In the foregoing, one would at this juncture need to ask Mr. Human activist and his sponsors, where to raise money for Local Government elections in the face of these pressing needs of the people.
Certainly, Local Government elections will be conducted at the appropriate time, but for now, the government’s priorities remains good governance, stability of the economy of the State and of course attracting the much needed development to the good people of Kogi State.
Kogi Central Media Crew needs to remind you that the 6th State House of Assembly members are men of integrity and have excelled in their chosen career, therefore, doesn’t require forces of external body to teach them their constitutional duties and oversight functions.
More so, under the present democratic dispensation, the principle of separation of power is highly respected as Legislators, Executives and the Judiciary are independent of one another. It’s laughable for you to have mentioned that the legislative arm conspired with the executive to illegally extend the tenure of the present Administrators since there is no fusion of power as obtained in the Republican system of government.
We make bold to say that this write-up has political undertone, as it’s malicious and a calculated attempt to incite the people against the government hence, your allegations can not stand in view of the prevailing circumstances in the State.
It’s against this backdrop we finally note that this allegation lacks merit to attract public attention as the people understand the situation better and had marched pass this level.
Signed:
Abubakar Abdullahi
For: Kogi Central Media Crew.
