Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Edo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Anthony Aziegbemi, has accused the state governor, Monday Okpebholo, of working in cahoots with the State House of Assembly and some of the state government officials to disobey the ruling of the courts coupled with the pronouncement of the Attorney General of the Federation(AGF) and President Bola Tinubu as it relates to the autonomy of local government councils.
Aziegbemi while addressing the press on Tuesday afternoon appealed to the President, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police and all relevant security authorities to urgently intervene and restore order and the rule of law in Edo State.
He expressed concerns on how the governor had resorted to harrassing the 18 council chairmen who are all of the PDP aftermath of what he described as their unlawful suspension by the State House of Assembly, acting on Governor Okpebholo’s orders.
According to Aziegbemi: “We are deeply worried that if urgent and decisive action is not taken to address this lawlessness and restore order within the system, we may witness an escalation that could result in crisis, anarchy, and chaos and which presents a clear and imminent danger of a breakdown of law and order in Edo State.
“As you are aware, recent events have brought to light the unlawful suspension of the duly elected Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the 18 Local Government Councils in Edo State purportedly by the State House of Assembly, following the directive of the Governor-select Monday Okpebholo.
“The illegal suspension, carried out on December 17, 2024, was executed under the false pretense of ‘gross misconduct and insubordination’, without fair hearing and under the misplaced and mistaken belief that the Chairmen and their Vice Chairmen are subordinate to the Governor, who premised his directive on Section 10(1) of the Local Government Law of Edo State which has since been voided by the judgment of the Chief Judge of Edo State.”
Going further, he averred: “It should be noted that no complaint was made against the Vice Chairmen and the House of Assembly still proceeded to suspend them and this they claimed to do under Section 20 of the same law, which did not give the Assembly any power to suspend any local government official.”
He expressed dismay that despite the clear and binding judgment from the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Daniel Okungbowa, the state government and their agents proceeded to enforce their individual interests capriciously and illegally and in breach of court injunctions in purportedly suspending the council chairmen.
