Vocal former governor of Edo State and senator representing Edo North in the Senate, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, whose contributions on the floor have been prolific, has declared unequivocally that state governors, including Edo State governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, do not have the constitutional leverage to dissolve elected local government councils.
Oshiomhole also said that governors were not robed with vires to appropriate and spend money on behalf or in the names of local government councils or local government caretaker committees, not being elected as they had been disrobed of such power by the constitution and the judgment of the Supreme Court.
A video of the Oshiomhole’s powerful contribution in plenary, while lending support to a motion by Senator Abba Moro’s motion on the subject matter, is doing the rounds on social media amid Edo governor’s alleged moves to upend the tenure of the council leadership, who are PDP members, midstream. Their tenure ends 2026.
The move is to supplant them with APC loyalists as part of a grand plot to cover the field of administration in the state and grab control of the fund under the guise of effective management of public finance by a superintending state governor.
Read part of Oshiomhole’s arguments as articulated on the floor of the Senate during plenary: “I think it is clear. The Supreme Court of the land, beside the express provisions of the Constitution (we can be accused of being lawmakers, not judges) has pronounced time and again that governors do not have powers, either to dissolve an elected council or to appropriate and spend money in the name of a local government or local government caretaker committee, not being elected.
“Each time we turn the other way, we inflict huge damage to the fabric of our democracy. I thought I should stand up, because I am not in the PDP. And, this is not about partisanship. If it is wrong, it is wrong.
“I was a governor. I was elected and I met caretaker committees in place. Even though, it was clear that these caretaker committees were rigged into office, since it was regularized by the court, we accepted to live with it until we could improve the system.
“So, I had had to live with elected council chairmen who were from another political party until their tenure was exhausted. I resisted pressure from my party leaders to dissolve them because if one can dissolve the other, we too can be dissolved.
“We all have all have a shared responsibility to defend the core principles and values of democracy. Governors are executive, but those elected people, council chairmen also have executive powers within the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.
“So, I think it is time that this Senate lent its voice and forcefully persuade the minister of finance that wherever there is no elected council chairmen that money due to those councils should not be released to an arm of government that does not exist.
“When we do that, that will be a great armor against governors with those dictatorial tendencies. It does not matter which parties they come from. This Senate must stand for democracy regardless of party affiliations. I so submit, Sir.”
THE CONCLAVE reports that the APC administration recently moved against the PDP-controlled local government council leaderships when it discovered that they were allegedly mobilizing council money to fund the governorship petition of the PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against Governor Okpebholo (of the APC).
The move by the State House of Assembly to suspend them was the first gambit to shut them out of the council funds. Their suspension would have tantamount to their denial of access to the council funds. They had since secured a reprieve from the High court in Benin that ordered relevant parties to the case to return to status quo ante bellum as of December 12, 2024.
Recall that the House of Assembly passed the resolution purportedly suspending the local government chiefs on December 16, 2024.
The council chairmen have since resumed in their offices, while other variants of plot to ease them out have been playing out in the respective council areas. On Friday, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of Egor Local Government Council were reportedly removed by the legislative arm of the Local Government Council.
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