LG chairmen, councillors barricade Assembly complex over dissolution

Elected Council Chairmen and Councillors in Imo State on Monday,
stormed the Imo State House of Assembly, barricading the entrance
to protest reported plan by the Lawmakers to terminate their
tenure.

The aggrieved Chairmen and their supporters arrived the Assembly
complex in a large crowd of supporters as early as 9am but were
prevented from gaining entrance into the premises by a detachment
of Policemen deployed to the House of Assembly to forestall
possible breakdown of law and Order.

Speaking to newsmen, the leader of Okigwe legislative council,
Godwin Nwankwo, said that they had inkling that the lawmakers
wanted to carry out the action at a plenary scheduled for
Monday.

Nwankwo who is also the chairman of Association of elected
councillors in Imo state, said that their intention was to be part
of the plenary and observe the proceedings.

He said, “We heard rumours that the lawmakers want to repudiate
the laws they made. They want to approbate and reprobate. This is a
law that they made that local governments are to serve for three
years. We are lawmakers and not lawbreakers. The way they are
elected is the way we are elected. All elections are the same under
the constitution. They have no power to dissolve us.

The Speaker of the assembly, Chinedu Offor, who neither
confirmed nor denied it, asked how the Chairmen got to know about
the intention of the House when they were not spirits.

He asked our correspondent to wait for further
clarification.

Offor said, “How did they know what we want to do? Are they
spirits?

Asked if the lawmakers have the intention of sacking the
chairmen and councillors, Offor said, “Wait until we finish.”

As at the time of writing, the lawmakers are said to be having
an executive session in preparation to going into plenary.

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MNJTF Recovers Equipment from ISWAP Terrorists, Debunks
Propaganda Video

The attention of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has
been drawn to a propaganda video being orchestrated online by
agents of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP),
purporting to show personnel and equipment allegedly captured in
the ongoing conflict in the Lake Chad Area.

As usual, the ISWAP video is largely make believe and without
any substance, as their claims are substantially debatable, while a
few are pieces of information already in the public domain. It
would be recalled that in previous press releases, the MNJTF had
referenced a couple of ISWAP attacks on troop’s locations in Metele
and Baga between December 2018 and January 2019.

In the said press releases, the MNJTF had made it known that
there were personnel casualties and others Missing in Action.
Therefore, other than sheer misinformation and crass propaganda
which are aimed at causing panic and manipulating public opinion,
the ISWAP video has not introduced any new dimension into the
conflict discourse surrounding the ongoing counterinsurgency
operations in the Lake Chad Area.

It would be recalled that following ISWAP attack on troop’s
locations in Baga and surrounding localities between December 2018
and January 2019, the MNJTF launched Operation YANCIN TAFKI to
among other objectives, rescue missing personnel and recover lost
equipment.

Consequently, a sizeable number of the equipment shown in the
video have since been recovered or destroyed in situ (please, refer
to previous MNJTF press releases from February to April 2019). The
Operation which is progressing steadily is committed to rescuing
all MNJTF personnel who were declared Missing in Action. The MNJTF
therefore wishes to assure the good people of the Lake Chad Region
that the Force will never leave any personnel behind, as Operation
YANCIN TAFKI continues.

It is essential to state that contrary to the fatuous and
dubious claims to expansion in the Lake Chad Region, ISWAP’s
influence has been curtailed considerably due to relentless
pursuits by the MNJTF and national forces, as well as rejection by
populations in the region. Armed Conflict Location and Event
Dataset (ACLED) April 2019, sheds more light on the decline of
ISWAP.

From the foregoing, it is clear that while the MNJTF is growing
stronger operationally, ISWAP is loosing ground and influence,
growing weaker and having to rely on the manipulation of public
opinion to advance it’s sinister objectives. The public is
therefore urged to disregard the spurious claims by the agents of
destabilization.

Colonel Timothy Antigha
Chief of Military Public Information
MNJTF