House of Representatives yesterday asked the Federal Government to withhold allocations to States running unelected Local Government Area (LGA) Administrations.


Similarly, it called for sanction against the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike and six area council chairmen for insubordination and disregard for the House.


The House also urged the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to create a special account where allocations due to local governments run by unelected officials would be paid.


The House stated that the money should be withheld until elected representatives were put in place by such state governments.


The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Gaza Jonathan (SDP-Nasarawa) and Ademorin Kuye (APC-Lagos) on the floor of the House in Abuja on Tuesday.


The motion titled,” Urgent need to address the refusal of state government to uphold democratic principles in the local governments and the financial impropriety of unelected local government officials.


Presenting the motion, the duo noted that the local government, as envisaged by the constitution, was the most important tier of government.


They stated that the LG was the closest to the people and forms the foundation of both the State and Federal Government.


According to them, the dissolution of democratically elected councils is in direct contravention of section 7 of the Nigerian Constitution.


They noted that the number of States acting in utter disregard for the constitution continued to increase, pointing out that not less than 21 State governors are currently running local councils with caretaker committees.


The duo contended that the disregard for the constitution upstages democracy, frustrates accountability and transparency in the local government and thwarts their development.


Adopting the motion, the House mandated the committees on State and Local Government Affairs and finance to work with the RMAFC to withhold allocations to local governments run by unelected officials.


The House urged the Attorney-General of the Federation to institute legal action against states that terminate the unexpired tenure of a local government.


Similarly,the House called for sanction against the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and six area council chairmen over insubordination and disregard for the House.


A member of the House Committee on FCT Area Council and Ancillary, Ikonne Ifeanyi made the demand during the committee’s meeting in Abuja yesterday.


He said that it was a show of disrespect and lack of regard for the House that the minister and his council chairmen refused to appear before the House after they were needed on invitation.


“Why must we invite someone here and they are given us the date they will appear? What about the risk people took to be there? We should not be seen pleading for them to appear before us


“My own decision is that they should be the ones to look for us. If we don’t stop this arrogance, it will not stop.


“Henceforth, we’ll not approve anything for both the minister and the area council chairmen, and as a matter of fact, we will tell the president to remove Wike as the FCT minister.


“I hereby move as a motion to bring this to the floor of the house for them to come and explain why they are not honoring our invitation,” he said.


Rep. Fredrick Agbedi, the chairman of the committee, said he viewed the action of the minister and the council chairmen as a breach of their constitutional responsibilities and a disservice to the people they serve.


He said, “The committee’s oversight function is essential to ensuring accountability and good governance, and this refusal to honour our invitation undermines these efforts.”


He said the committee would not hesitate to invoke its power to ensure that the area councils operate in the best interest of the people.


Also, Adesola Adebayo (APC-Lagos), a member of the committee said that the function to oversee the activities of the council areas resides in the House.


The lawmaker said that he considered the attitude of the area council chairmen as an affront on the House.


Nurudeen Abbas (PDP-Oyo), however, suggested that the minister and the council chairmen should be given the last chance.


“Let’s communicate with them again, and if they fail to appear again, then we should sanction them,” he suggested.


Sada Soli (APC-Katsina) asked that members be broken into a closed session to discuss further



credit: story, excluding headline sourced from dailyasset.ng