Tenure Elongation: Police Sustain Siege On Rivers LG Secretariats Despite Court Declaration
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Police in Rivers State had continued to lay siege on the 23 Local Government Council secretariats in a bid to forestall escalation of clashes between outgone council chairmen in the state and supporters of the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
This was as angry youths took over the council secretariats sometime in June and chased out 21 out of the 23 council chairmen that refused to vacate office after their three-year term expired on June 17, citing an amended Local Government Law 2024 that was enacted by the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly, extending their term by some months.
Factional Speaker of the state assembly, Martin Amaewhule, and 24 other lawmakers loyal to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, amended the local government law on the grounds that the state governor refused to conduct a fresh election for the councils prior to the expiration of the then sitting Chairmen, noting that the assembly would rather extend the tenure of the chairmen, and appoint caretaker committees to manage the council, insisting that CTC’s was unconstitutional.
But a state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt nullified the amended Local Government Law which backed the tenure elongation of the former chairmen, in a suit filed by the chairman of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, Enyiada Cookey-Gam, and six others, a decision that was appealed by Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule and 24 others.
At the wake of the controversy that sparked the clashes between pro and anti-chairmen, leading to the death of a policeman and another vigilante member in Omuma LGA of the state, Policemen at the behest of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, took over local government secretariats
This was as the IGP insisted that the policemen will not leave the headquarters until the matter in court is dispensed with and a declaration made.
Settling the tenure elongation controversy, an appeal court sitting in Port Harcourt on July 8, dismissed the two appeals filed by Martin Amaewhule and others for lacking in merit.
The appeals challenged the decision of the state High Court that quashed the amended LGA law that gave rise to the council chairmen tenure extension.
Surprisingly, the stationed Policemen had continued to stay put at the council secretariats days after the tenure elongation controversy appeal was dismissed, as Saturday INDEPENDENT Correspondent who visited Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, Obio-Akpor and Ikwerre LGA council secretariats on Thursday, observed that the police vans and officers were still stationed at the main entrance gates.
Recall that the state NLC Chairman, Alex Agwanwor, and his TUC counterpart, Ikechukwu Onyefuru, have both called on the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, to immediately withdraw policemen from the council secretariats, arguing that workers of the local government councils have been denied access to the offices causing loss of man-hours.
The organised labour unions made the call after rising from an emergency joint state administrative council meeting in Port Harcourt on Friday, June 22, frowning at the directive of the Inspector General of Police.
