The Benue State House of Assembly, on Wednesday, suspended all the elected chairmen and councillors in the 23 local government areas of the state.
The lawmakers asked the Benue State Governor, Rev Father Hyacinth Alia, to immediately replace the council chairmen with caretaker committees.
The decision, which was read on the floor of the House on Wednesday by the Speaker, Dajoh Hyacinth, was adopted by all the lawmakers.
The Assembly requested the Commissioner of Police in the state to ensure a seamless takeover at the various local government council headquarters without any friction.
The Assembly’s decision followed the report of a three-man ad hoc committee headed by Peter Ipusu.
The Ipusu committee indicated that the suspension of the council chairmen would pave the way for a probe of “the entire tenure of the outgone (Samuel Ortom) administration (June 2015 to May 2023).”
It said, “In order to conduct the review without any interference, the committee recommends the immediate suspension of executive council chairmen in all the 23 local government councils and also the legislative councils for conniving with the executive councils to mismanage public funds put in their trust.
“The council chairmen are hereby directed to hand over the affairs of the local government councils, all government properties in their possession, including official vehicles, to the DGSAs with immediate effect and proceed on suspension pending the completion of investigation into their books of accounts and other related matters.
“The governor should proceed to set up caretaker committees in line with the Benue State Local Government law.”
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the incumbent governor, Alia, raised a panel to recover all looted government property by the immediate-past government.
But the recommendation by the Assembly came on the heels of a June 15, 2023 judgment of the National Industrial Court in Makurdi, holding that the LG chairmen cannot be removed from until the expiration of their two-year tenure.
The council chairmen were elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party and inaugurated in June 2022.
Few days after the council chairmen secured the judgment, the governor held a meeting with them, during which he directed them to furnish him with the income and expenditure of their respective councils in the last three months.
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