DGossip247 writes on the resignation of local goverment caretaker committee chairmen and development centre coordinators in Ebonyi State following their probe by the state’s House of Assembly
After the assurances given by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State that he would work with the local government leadership in Ebonyi State despite the fact that they worked against his election and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general elections, the 13 caretaker committee chairmen and 64 development centres coordinators suddenly tendered their resignation letters on June 30.
The reason for their resignation is not far-fetched. They saw what they did not expect; probe by members of the state House of Assembly who accused them of embezzlement of public funds and other gross misconduct. The council leaders considered this as political witch-hunt which the governor had earlier assured them that he will not embark on. While addressing the council executives at the Akanu Ibiam International Conference Centre, Abakaliki, Umahi expressed dismay that they (council chairmen) were avoiding public functions since he came on board on May 29.
He told the local government leadership to attend any invitation extended to them by members of the state House of Assembly any time they are invited for interrogation on their activities in the office. Umahi demanded complete loyalty from the council executives the way they did to his predecessor, Martin Elechi. He said: “I should somehow praise you for your loyalty to the past governor and I am not saying it to patronise you even though some of you were very excessive but I bear no grudge because you shouldn’t have left the former governor to support me.
I am a rational person because the former governor was your boss and loyalty demands that you should give that to him. Now I am on seat, I demand the same level of loyalty from you. “We stand for the project of Ebonyi State and I will not witchhunt anybody. We will not retaliate whatever wrong we feel we suffered during our struggle to come into power. I will not probe the past administration of Elechi in the state; we have no intention of probing the past administration because I was part of that administration.” Two weeks after, the caretaker committee chairmen were made to give account of their stewardship which prompted their sudden resignation.
They even defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) before their exit, though they said their action was to encourage a national leader of the party, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu. Eleven of the 13 chairmen tendered a joint resignation letter to Governor Umahi which was rejected.
Those that tendered joint resignation are; Tony Ekoh (Afikpo North), Egwu Chima (Afikpo South), Chaka Nweze (Ohaozara), Edwin Okeh (Ezza South), Stanley Odanwu (Ishielu) and Mrs. Chinyere Elom (Ohaukwu). Others are; Jeff Ogbu (Ezza North), Mrs. Chinyere Nwanoke (Onicha), Godwin Nwaogha (Izzi), Paul Iganga (Ebonyi) and Moses Nwekoyo (Ikwo).
The caretaker committee chairmen had on several occasions pleaded that they be allowed to resign, a request that was said to have been declined by Governor Umahi. This might have forced them to resort to newspaper advertorial to announce their resignation to the members of the public. But before the advert could come out on June 30, the governor got wind of the plan and announced on June 29 the termination of their appointments. The governor, who announced their sack on the floor of the Assembly while re-presenting the 2015 appropriation bill, said that all the appointments made in the local government areas would cease to exist by the end of June.
He acknowledged that the council chairmen had visited him in his office and pleaded that they be allowed to resign from office, adding that the announcement is a concession to their request. He added that the sack of the council chairmen and the coordinators would not stop the probe of the chairmen by the members of the House of Assembly.
He added that the House would continue the investigation of the fraudulent activities in the council areas in the last six months. While addressing contractors handling projects for the state government, Umahi called on the 13 caretaker committee chairmen to make available the public funds they allegedly stole to be free from the on-going probe by the state House of Assembly. He said: “People destroyed the local government system, embezzled all kinds of money and when the House of Assembly asked them to come and account for them, they said government is chasing them because they are in APC.
“I said if they like let them be in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or whatever, but if you stole any government money you will bring it out. There is nothing that will stop you from producing it and I am happy that all parties in this country are on the same page because the only way this country can develop is when we fight corruption.
Anywhere anybody runs to hide, the person can hide there but if you stole money you will bring back the money. “We are not interested in court action or Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). We will negotiate on how you will bring back the money to improve the lives of the people and then you are a free person. If you don’t bring it but run to belong to Obama’s party to be free from your problem, there is no way for you until you do what we are demanding from you.”
Meanwhile, a report by the House of Assembly ad hoc committee set up to investigate the allegations of financial misappropriation has indicted the caretaker committee chairmen and 64 development centre coordinators. The committee also indicted the immediate past Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Chief Celestine Nwali.
Others indicted by the report included the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Dr. Ifeanyi Umoke; Heads of Personnel Management (HPMs),Treasurers, Cashiers and HODs of works of the local government areas and development centres.
According to the report, Nwali, who was the chairman of Joint Allocation Committee (JAC), and Umoke, the secretary liaising with the 13 council caretaker chairmen carried out illegal deductions from the federation allocation to the local government councils of the state.
The report also stated that the caretaker chairmen, treasurers, cashiers and HODs of Works also collaborated and illegally withdrew money from their councils’ bank accounts, pay unaccounted money into their private bank accounts, divert fund through fictitious projects and in most cases inflated cost of projects.
The report presented by the chairman of the ad hoc committee and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Odefa Obasi Odefa, reads in part: “The caretaker chairmen withdrew funds from the stabilisation accounts of their LGAs in connivance with the chairman and the secretary of JAC in contravention of Section 12 of Ebonyi State Revenue Distribution to the local government and Development Centres Law 2006. “Caretaker chairmen withdrew money from federal allocation to the local government council in execution of joint project in contravention to section 7 subsections 3 of joint state and local government project and related matters law 0009 of 2009.
“Caretaker chairmen of LGAs in collaboration with chairman and secretary of JAC carried out several deduction in councils’ bank accounts contrary to Section 8 subsection 2(9)I of Revenue distribution to Local government councils and Development Centres of 2006 and punishable un-der subsection 2(C) of section 8 of same law.
“The caretaker chairmen used the personal bank accounts of some of their staff and in some cases use their own personal accounts to siphon public fund meant for the councils; and that the chairman of Board of Internal Revenue was used to print and supply rate ticket to LGAs in manifest abuse of his office.”
The committee recommended to the House that those culpable as identified should be made to refund the money, dismissed from service and be prosecuted for fraud. Following the recommendations of the House, Governor Umahi last week relieved the Auditor-General of the Local Governments, Dr. Ambrose Edeh, Heads of Personnel Management (HPMs) and treasurers of the councils of their appointments for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of N1.8 billion in the local government system in the last six months.
He had already sworn in a new Auditor-General of the Local Governments, Ndukwe Ukpai, to replace the sacked Edeh. The governor directed the sacked Auditor-General, Edeh, the treasurers and HPMs to report to the chairman, Local Government Service Commission, Mrs. Lilian Nwankwo, for further action. He said there will be no appointment of the HPMs and treasurers in the local government system for now, adding that the most senior officers are to run the system.
Umahi relieved the local government officials of their jobs while addressing leaders of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state on how to clear their two-month salaries’ arrears owed to teachers and council workers.
The governor directed all workers of the local government system to be redeployed to their parent ministries. In a twist, former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Ohaozara Local Government Chief Chaka Nweze, said that he is the prime target of state House of Assembly’s investigation.
The House Committee investigating the local government area accounts had submitted its interim report to the House and recommended a warrant of arrest on Nweze and other chairmen who failed to honour invitation by the committee. Nweze, who hails from the same town with the governor, said the committee made its report known without final conclusion because it was witch-hunting him. “The ruling government in the state is accusing me of leading other council chairmen in defecting to the APC, but I am neither the leader of the chairmen nor the State Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON),” Nweze said.
He noted that the House was merely chasing shadows because he decamped to the APC due to his personal conviction of identifying with the party. “I have no business in the affairs of the PDPled government in the state because I worked against the party during the last general elections in the state and the House which is dominated by PDP members would always do the bidding of the government,” he said.
He alleged that the House did not formally invite him before he resigned as he only heard informally from the council’s Head of Personnel Management and Treasurer that three of them were invited by the House. “I had already resigned my position as the chairman; I could have honoured their invitation if invited officially before my resignation of privately afterwards,” he said.
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