Olorunnimbe Mamora
Ex-Minister of Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, has accused state governors of destroying Local Government administration in Nigeria.
According to him, they destroyed it by imposing caretaker chairmen on the people at the grassroots.
Mamora stated this in an interview on Channels Television on Friday.
He said, “If I would be very frank, the governors destroyed the local governments. That’s the truth. Don’t forget, I was very much involved. Local government chairmen were elected under Abdulsalami Abubakar in 1998 with a three-year tenure which should have terminated in 2001;
“But towards the end of the termination of the tenure, the local government chairmen under the aegis of ALGON started making moves to the National Assembly, then headed by Anyim Pius Anyim as Senate President and Ghali Na’aaba (of blessed memory) as the Speaker of the House.
“They (LG chairmen) were asking for the extension of their tenure to be four years in line with the state and the federal. That was the beginning.”
Speaking further, Mamora, who was the chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly in 2001, said the move was challenged because Section 7 of the Constitution has placed everything in the local governments under the state through laws made by the state house of assembly.
“We challenged it because it was like trying to usurp the powers of the state houses of assembly,” he added.
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly between June 1999 and June 2003 said the National Assembly went ahead with the bill to make local government chairmen tenured for four years, and he and his then colleague-speakers went to court.
“While the case was then in court because of the interest of the governors, they came in to join, and because they joined, the case was taken straight to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ruled that the National Assembly had no business in determining the tenure.”
“Then President Olusegun Obasanjo invited us speakers to the Villa and appealed to us because their tenure was about to end and new local government chairmen were yet to be elected,” he added.
You may be interested
PSG To Reignite Interest In Osimhen
Webby - December 21, 2024Paris Saint-Germain have contacted Napoli to discuss signing Victor Osimhen in January, according to reports in France.It is reported that…
Arteta Provides Injury Updates On Five Arsenal Players Ahead Palace Clash
Webby - December 20, 2024Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori are both available to be in the Gunners…
Carabao Cup: Spurs Edge Man United In Seven-Goal Thriller To Reach Semi-finals
Webby - December 19, 2024Tottenham Hotspur edged Manchester United 4-3 in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Thursday.Spurs raced to a 3-0 lead…