Imo LG pulls may not hold if…
2 min read
If the legal gymnastics Umuaka Times is anticipating from some certain quarters in the state are anything to go by, the local council elections scheduled to hold on September 21, 2024 across the 305 electoral wards and 4,758 polling units in Imo State may not hold. Recall that during the early days of his government in 2011, the then Imo governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha sacked all the 27 elected Imo LG chairmen and councilors and appointed sole administrators to oversee the affairs of the local councils.
Provoked by this move which was considered undemocratic, the 27 LG chairmen of the local councils went to court in Owerri and obtained judgment ordering Okorocha to reinstate them to complete their terms. Not satisfied by the judgment, the Okorocha led Imo government headed to the Appeal Court. After hearing the appeal, the Appeal Court upheld the decision of the lower court and still ordered Okorocha to reinstate the LG bosses. According to a highly dependable source Umuaka Times came across last week, “In a unanimous judgment which lasted over two hours, the presiding judge, Justice Uwani Attaji, ordered the transition committee chairmen, who are currently superintending over the 27 local councils, to vacate their offices.”
The governor had no option than to reinstate the LG bosses but a sort of delay tactics was officially employed. The Federal Government waded into the matter and ordered Okorocha to obey the judgment of the Appeal Court. A newspaper source Umuaka Times came across declared: “The FG, in a statement by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, maintained that section 7 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, guarantees the existence of a system of democratically elected Local Government Councils throughout the federation.”
On July 19, 2012 it was reported in some of Nigerian dailies that Okorocha has obeyed the court order on the day before and reinstated the LG council bosses and their councilors but they were not allowed access to their offices for some official reasons. From that day till date, the doors of 27 local government councils have “permanently” been shot against the sacked LG chiefs.
Considering the decision of the Appeal Court, will there still be an election in Imo state come September 11 2024? There are speculations in town that the sacked LG bosses will head to court to prevent INEC from conducting any LG pulls in the state as there is no vacancy for such exercise.
Only time will tell.
