Govt yet to inform Anambra on stoppage of funds
From Chuks Collins, Onitsha
THE Anambra State Government is yet to be formally communicated with President Olusegun Obasanjo's instruction that its monthly allocations be stopped for not conducting elections into local government councils.
The report published by The Guardian on Monday has sent panic waves across the state, leading to several emergency meetings by stakeholders in the state yesterday.
President Obasanjo's directive, sent to the Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on June 19, affects both Anambra and Jigawa States.
According to the President, the conduct of elections to the councils "is fundamental in the (1999) Constitution." He noted that as at June 19, some states were yet to conduct elections into their councils "almost three months after local government elections were conducted in the country."
The development, he added, had "become a veritable means of mismanagement of Local Government funds at the state level."
The letter went further: "Therefore, in addition to states that have unconstitutionally created local government councils not stipulated in the constitution, states that have not had local government election will have release of allocation to their local governments stopped forthwith and only resumed after evidence that such elections have taken place."
The President's directives to the ministry was copied to the Senate President, House of Representatives Speaker and the Accountant-General of the Federation."
Jigawa has fixed the `elections to its councils for next Saturday. But the Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, has made the restoration of his security aides a condition for holding the elections.
The Federal Government has since January withdrawn the governor's security aides in compliance with a controversial High Court order which has, however, been upturned by the Court of Appeal while the High Court Judge, Stanley Nnaji, has been suspended by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for issuing the controversial order.
The Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Mr. Mike Balonwu, yesterday described the President's directive to the ministry as illegal and vexatious.
He said: "The 1999 Constitution of the Federation placed the responsibility of the councils on the state governments, especially the state Assemblies. It is therefore their sole concern and prerogative to arrange and organise council polls whenever they deem fit."
The Speaker told reporters in his office that the House was already making consultations on the development.
The report has thrown virtually other establishments of government in the state into panic.
The State Executive Council, chairman of transition committees of the council and the local government employees, under the aegis of National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) yesterday convened a meeting over the issue.
The chairman of the Transition Committee, Dr. Uche Ezeliora, declined comments on the report.
The state NULGE chairman, Dr. Godwin Ibekwe, stated that he would address the press on the issue after an emergency executive meeting of the union today.
Before the commencement of the weekly executive council meeting, which is always presided over by Ngige, his Senior Special Adviser on Media/Publicity, Fred Chukwuelobe, told The Guardian that he expressed doubts over the report.
He said that the state government on the matter had received no formal communication. "We have no comments for now as we are still studying the matter," he added.
A group of party loyalists on the side of Ngige's estranged godfather, Chief Chris Uba, led by the acting PDP chairman in the state, Chief Ifeatu Obiokoye and Dr. Emeka Eze, had recently called on the President to stop releasing council allocation to the state pending the holding of elections by Governor Ngige.
Before now, the governor had been persistent on deferring the council polls pending restoration of his security details. He had however, set up the state's electoral commission early last month in preparation for the elections.
The electoral commission with seven members, each from the state's six electoral zones has Chief Cornel Umeh as chairman.
Umeh also stated that he along with the other members had been on a 24-hour work plan, geared towards hitch-free election in due course.
The commission was constitutionally given a 90-day gap to get itself ready to democratise the state's third tier of government. `
