Tarka LGA crisis: The silence that is not golden
Although the local government, which was created on December 8, 1996 under the military junta of the late General Sani Abacha is meant to serve the dual purpose of immortalizing the legendary Tarka and accelerating the development of his people, if urgent steps are not taken, it may not survive the present political tsunami. Few […]
Although the local government, which was created on December 8, 1996 under the military junta of the late General Sani Abacha is meant to serve the dual purpose of immortalizing the legendary Tarka and accelerating the development of his people, if urgent steps are not taken, it may not survive the present political tsunami. Few privileged individuals have willfully concocted with intent to subvert the constitution and maintain their stranglehold on the administration of the local government for purposes of self-aggrandizement. As I write, the crisis in Tarka has reached a crescendo and the issue at stake is one that, if handled dispassionately, wouldn’t have thrown up the unnecessary political hullabaloo. The genesis of the mind boggling crisis is the clandestine attempts by a self-serving group to reclaim the chairmanship position of the LGA following the death of the former chairman, Akoom Akume Dajoh who was Senator George Akume’s younger brother.
The contentious issue, therefore, is the undemocratic manner in which the PDP caucus in the state wants to uproot the incumbent chairman Hon. Stephen Nyito Kpev and have him replaced by the wife of the late chairman, Mrs Mngusuur Akume. The woman has since been appointed vice-chairman from her former position of council cashier! The present chairman says he did not pray for his predecessor to die for him to take over and therefore isnot willing to act according to the dictates of the cabal. This is the crux of the matter.
As simple as the case may appear, if not properly handled, a bad precedence would be set as tomorrow, another group, may, for no concrete reason(s) rise up to force a substantive chairman to resign against his or her wish for a favoured candidate to take over.
It is hard to understand the grounds on which those who want him out of office are standing to pursue their unpopular agenda. No case of corruption or any other form of mal-administration has been established against Mr Kpev, yet he is being forced to resign. Is it not even better to give a dog a bad name before it is hung? Must the chairman of Tarka local government come from a particular lineage? The temptation for Mbakiyour to seek to complete their mandate is enormous but morality must not be thrown to the dogs. As much as they want one of their own to continue from where the late Akume stopped, the incumbent chairman also has a right to rule by virtue of constitutional provisions. Senator George Akume may argue that he is not a party to the worsening political crisis in his local government area, but accusing fingers are pointing steadily at his family in the ignominious act.
I invite Akume to wade into the crisis and save his immediate constituency from imminent embarrassment. As far as I am concerned, he is the political torchbearer of the area and must not allow one of the legacies of Senator Tarka to become a laughing stock. Silence is golden but not in all cases.
If he allows some self-serving individuals to infiltrate his family in order to achieve their selfish desires, in the end, he will be remembered for collaborating with anti-democratic elements to undermine the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which he had on several occasions sworn to defend and uphold at all times.
Terlumun Akardeh, 18 Aper Aku Road, GRA, Gboko-Benue State