Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue state has demanded an unreserved apology from Senator Abba Moro representing the Benue South senatorial zone, over his allegations of arbitrary dissolution of local government councils in the state.
Senator Moro who is also minority leader of the Senate on Friday last week moved a motion titled, “Urgent Need to Halt the Erosion of Democracy: The Dissolution of Elected Councils in Benue State,” in, which he sought urgent intervention of the Senate in reversing what he termed “the unconstitutional sack of the elected executive and legislative arms of the local government areas.”
Speaking to journalists, Chief Press Secretary to the Benue State governor, Tersoo Kula, alleged that Senator Moro misled the Senate regarding the accurate status of the Benue local government system.
Kula explained that contrary to Senator Moro’s motion paper on the floor of the Senate, it was the Benue House of Assembly that dissolved the 23 local government council chairmen in the exercise of their constitutional rights and not Governor Alia.
The governor’s spokesman noted that under Sections 7 and 8 of the 1999 Constitution, the House of Assembly is vested with the power to oversight over local government councils.
“The Benue state House of Assembly which has the power to oversee the local government system investigated the 23 local government council chairmen, their deputies, and councilors and were found to be involved in monumental fraud.
“It was the House of Assembly that dissolved the Local Government Councils Chairmen and Governor Hyacinth, in order not to create a lacuna at the third tier of the government system, appointed caretaker committees pending elections which cannot be done in one day.”
On the case against the governor in which the Industry Court passed judgement in favour of the chairmen, Kula said, “We have appealed to the Court of Appeal and the matter is pending.
“Benue state government appealed the judgement of the Industrial Court. The appeal was filed on November 24, 2023, and marked No CA/MKD/155/2023
“We call on Sen. Abba Moro to tender unreserved apologies to the people of Benue state and Nigerians for misleading the senate to pass resolutions on a matter they lack the constitutional powers to legislate upon.
“We are calling on the Nigeria Senate to always properly scrutinise their motion papers to avoid a repeat of what Sen. Moro led them into. It will be a gross disservice for our Distinguished Senators to allow some selfish ones amongst them to drag them to becoming a laughing stock.”
Senator Moro has been under attack since he moved the motion in the Senate with many believing that his action was a mere step to gain cheap popularity while misleading the National Assembly.
