Nasarawa: LG chairmen in fight-to-finish against Governor Doma
The chairmen were elected into office in 2008 on a Local Government Law of that year, which provided a three-year term for them and their councillors. But only two years into their tenure, the Musa Ahmed Mohammed-led Nasarawa State House of Assembly (NSHA), rose last year and forced them out of office on October 20. […]
The chairmen were elected into office in 2008 on a Local Government Law of that year, which provided a three-year term for them and their councillors. But only two years into their tenure, the Musa Ahmed Mohammed-led Nasarawa State House of Assembly (NSHA), rose last year and forced them out of office on October 20. This followed members’ resolution that the LG Law of 2008 was amended to shorten their tenure by one year.
The chairmen struggled to stay on amid the storm, but they had all the while hung unto a weak straw. Musa Saidu of Awe Local Government Area, who doubled as the state’s chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), had told this reporter that implementation of the resolution rested with the governor, who at that time, remained indifferent to the storm that shook the state. But Doma turned his back at them. On the eve of November 3, which marked their two years in office, they were sent packing when the governor asked them, through a radio announcement, to hand over to personnel managers in their respective councils. No election to replace them was discussed. They left.
One of them, Barrister Sani Bawa of Nasarawa Local Government proceeded to court.
On Tuesday, February 8, Barrister Bawa obtained a ruling from the High Court in Karu, against the arbitrariness, for him to be reinstated. The judgment upheld the state Local Government Law, saying the application of the said amendment on them was arbitrary.
Barrister Bawa’s preparation to resume office on February 15, met with stiff blockade mounted by the state government, in what he called a “violation of a court order.” On that day, Bawa invited his colleagues, former councillors and other political office holders at the local government level across the state since 1999, to join him as he resumed office. There, he dropped from his vehicle and walked into the office, ignoring a truckload of armed policemen in riot gear, stationed there by the state government. The policemen were not there to guard him; they were there to stop him. Their leader, the DPO of the area, announced to him that his men were there to ensure he did not enter the office. He led him out of the way into the office, informing him that the state government had filed a notice of appeal against the ruling he won earlier.
He obliged, but addressed a crowd of supporters and newsmen outside, condemning the development as “completely at variance with President Goodluck Jonathan’s avowals for rule of law.” He also led his colleagues and paid homage to the Emir of Nasarawa, Alhaji Hassan Ahmed II, appealing to the paramount ruler to intervene and stop the state government from acting against the law. He also left for Lafia, saying he was invited by the then police commissioner, Mr Wilfred Obute, for talks.
The legal battle rages on: the state government has gone ahead to file an application for the stay of execution on the ruling, at a lower court. Ruling on the application is being awaited, keenly.
Barrister Bawa spoke to Sunday Trust on the issue, saying, “I am not in a hurry to take the next action; it will be determined by the ruling on the application for stay of execution.” He said the end of the long journey will come shortly, and would set precedence in the state. “We are exploring all the legal angles first, before the political angle so that it will shape politics in the state; such that nobody among us the people of Nasarawa, can grow above the law. It is a clear indication of the practice of democracy where the three arms of government are in action: the legislature has done its work, executive done its own, and now, the judiciary is about to do its work. We want to see the practice of democracy in Nasarawa State”, he added. He is the only lawyer among his colleagues, and has remained the leader of the crusade.
The state governor, through his Special Adviser on Politics, Musa Bako, also commented, saying the action of the state to prevent the chairman from being reinstated was justified. “The judiciary has every right to make the ruling. The state government also has its right to take its decision the way it has taken, given the situation on hand”, he said, although he did not make clear, what the situation is.
But Barrister Bawa’s colleagues – the 12 other sacked chairmen – are waiting in the wings, and are ready to take advantage of the ruling obtained by their colleague, to also push their case and get reinstated. They have teamed up, and have already instructed a lawyer to look at the ruling and take necessary steps.
They are not stopping there, like their colleague did. They are also taking the political angle to their case, in what has brought them into direct confrontation with Governor Doma’s re-election bid. They have seen that at this critical time, the only place to hold Doma is his groins – the April governorship election – and on it, they have sealed a decision: to sit on whatever fortune is left of Doma’s bid, and to ruin his chances of ever returning to Government House, the house from which he got the powers to act the way he is acting.
Not all have met in a manner that gives them a public outlook, but those of the North-West zone, except for Barrister Bawa who is not atoned to the political angle, met last week in Keffi, the zonal headquarters and spoke with one voice. On the roof top, they sounded clear, with a trumpet that blew the message which leaders of the zone, including former governor, Abdullahi Adamu, Senator Walid Jibrin who is Doma’s campaign Director General, Chief Yunana Iliya who is also the state chairman of the PDP, promised to convey to the governor.
They are Joseph Kaura of Karu, Engr. Idrsi Mohammed of Keffi, Abubakar Sharubutu of Kokona, and Ibrahim Muktar of Toto. The Toto chairman only sent a representative, but with a statement that he was part of the resolution of the chairmen. Also with them were former councillors and other political office holders at the grassroots level from 1999 to date. While the former office holders’ grouse is that Doma has continued to renege on his talks with them for the payment of the backlog of outstanding arrears of allowances, the recently sacked councillors named the shortening of their three year-tenure by one year, through Doma’s bill to the House which members hurriedly passed for his assent.
But former governor, Adamu, the state PDP chairman, Iliya and Senator Jibrin, stood up to speak for the governor as they appealed for understanding. The leaders sought for calm, promising they will speak to the governor to respect the agreements as well as reinstate the chairmen. Various other leaders of the zone also spoke. All of them sympathized with the sacked chairmen, the councillors and other political office holders of the councils from 1999, giving them their words: that they will speak to Doma, and convey their grievances, and try to make him sit up. The leaders unanimously called for support for all candidates running election on the platform of the PDP, particularly Governor Doma, whom they insisted, must be delivered to continue in office.
It was difficult, as at yesterday, to know if the message was passed to the governor. Senator Jibrin picked his call, but told Sunday Trust he was not ready to speak on the issue. But there is no indication of any serious change from government’s action, as a chairman spoken to, said they are yet to hear of any positive development. “We will continue to explore all legal heights until we resume office. We are not going to back down on our agitation. We are in it for the soul of Nasarawa State, the government is in it for its political reasons. Whatever the outcome, it will set the precedence in the state”, one of them told Sunday Trust, yesterday.
While the crisis lingers, Nasarawa remains a state with three different forms of grassroots administration: there are 13 local government councils manned by personnel managers, instead of the constitutionally recognized elected chairmen. One of them, Nasarawa, may, or many not be manned by an elected chairman, depending on the ruling on the application seeking a stay of execution on the ruling obtained by Barrister Sani Bawa. There are also 16 Development Areas run like local government councils, but manned by Administrators appointed by the governor. They, like the creation, are also unconstitutional.