The All Progressives Congress in Niger State on Sunday decried the appointment and inauguration of caretaker committees to run the affairs of the 25 local government areas of the state by the state Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu.
The APC, in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jonathan Vatsa, and made available to journalists, reads in part: “The action of the Peoples Democratic Party led government of Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu was not only unconstitutional but a naked show of impunity, a trademark that has become the identity of the ruling party in the state.
“We view the excuse of closeness to 2015 general elections advanced by Governor Aliyu as the reason for the non-conduct of elections into the 25 local government councils untenable and unacceptable.”
However, in a swift reaction to APC’s position, the Chief Press Secretary to Aliyu, Israel Ebije, said: “The APC has failed to realise that Niger State under the leadership of Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu is one of the few that has consistently complied with constitutional process of producing local government chairman in Nigeria.
“For emphasis sake, Niger State has broken the record as one of the few states in the federation that has conducted elections for local governments since the past seven years. Dr. Aliyu’s administration has always advocated for democratic local government and has been consistent in its position in that direction.”
Ebije said the inauguration of caretaker committee chairmen to oversee affairs of local governments in Niger State upon the expiration of the term of the immediate past leadership is within the ambit of the law, adding that the state government has not breached the constitution.
Vatsa however queried the governor’s role, demanding whose responsibility it is to conduct local government elections and general elections.
Accordingly, he said: “We challenge the Niger State Independent Electoral Commission, the statutory body saddled with the duty of conducting the elections into our councils, to come out and tell Nigerlites why it cannot conduct local government election having known that council’s life span is only three years. What is NSIEC doing that it cannot conduct the election now?
“The jamboree called inauguration of caretaker committees on Thursday in Minna was another of the wastage and plundering of the state scarce resources in the face of many un-met needs of the masses of the state.
“Governor Aliyu is afraid of going into Local Government elections for fear of defeat, hence the appointment of an unconstitutional caretaker committees to continue to do his bidding and to use them for rigging 2015 general elections.”
Ebije however insisted that the APC is threatened by the crowd of supporters at the inauguration ceremony on Thursday last week, adding: “The position of the APC is politically tactless, lacks sense and full of mischief targeted at the government of Dr. Aliyu just for its nuisance value.”