Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed, has declared
that the appointment of local government caretaker chairmen is
unconstitutional and undemocratic.
Mohammed, however, admitted that he had to appoint local
government caretakers in order to fill the existing vacancies in
the affected LGs.
Speaking yesterday while swearing in four council caretaker
chairmen to replace three that were removed and one who was
appointed into another office, the governor assured the residents
that the LG elections, which were to hold on Saturday, June 20, but
were suspended, would be held after the current pandemic was
over.
“I did not want to come out for this swearing-in because I knew
I had promised Nigerians that we were going to hold local
government elections very soon. But this situation is a doctrine of
necessity that we had to swear in and get extension of the tenure
of local government caretaker chairmen from the state Assembly in
view of the COVID-19 pandemic which has precluded us from abiding
by the time-table set out by the State Independent Electoral
Commission.
“I want to reiterate that we will hold council elections as soon
as it is feasible. We have completed all arrangements to do
that.
“That is the only way we can show and deepen democracy in
Nigeria and we know that this caretaker system is not democratic,
it is unconstitutional but we have to fill in the vacuum.”
The governor stated that recent sacking of three local
government caretaker chairmen was because they were involved in
illegal tree felling and conniving with some unscrupulous citizens
to dispose government property.
The sacked local government chairmen were Baffa Bara (Kirfi);
Nura Dan Maisahria (Ningi) and Gara’u Adamu (Darazo) while the
erstwhile Caretaker Chairman of Tafawa Balewa was appointed by
Governor Mohammed as a Special Adviser, Legal Affairs.
“One of the reasons one of the local government chairmen was
removed was because he was cutting trees. You shouldn’t do that.
Our environment is dear to us. Today, we have people coming to
Bauchi who are not citizens of the state colluding with local
government chairmen and deforesting our forest, we cannot accept
that.
“Some of them were selling government lands and allocating them
without approval, please we should excuse selfishness,” he
said.
Mohammed charged the in-coming caretaker chairmen to shun
corruption, high-handedness and carry along all stakeholders in
their various local governments.
Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed, has declared
that the appointment of local government caretaker chairmen is
unconstitutional and undemocratic.
Mohammed, however, admitted that he had to appoint local
government caretakers in order to fill the existing vacancies in
the affected LGs.
Speaking yesterday while swearing in four council caretaker
chairmen to replace three that were removed and one who was
appointed into another office, the governor assured the residents
that the LG elections, which were to hold on Saturday, June 20, but
were suspended, would be held after the current pandemic was
over.
“I did not want to come out for this swearing-in because I knew
I had promised Nigerians that we were going to hold local
government elections very soon. But this situation is a doctrine of
necessity that we had to swear in and get extension of the tenure
of local government caretaker chairmen from the state Assembly in
view of the COVID-19 pandemic which has precluded us from abiding
by the time-table set out by the State Independent Electoral
Commission.
“I want to reiterate that we will hold council elections as soon
as it is feasible. We have completed all arrangements to do
that.
“That is the only way we can show and deepen democracy in
Nigeria and we know that this caretaker system is not democratic,
it is unconstitutional but we have to fill in the vacuum.”
The governor stated that recent sacking of three local
government caretaker chairmen was because they were involved in
illegal tree felling and conniving with some unscrupulous citizens
to dispose government property.
The sacked local government chairmen were Baffa Bara (Kirfi);
Nura Dan Maisahria (Ningi) and Gara’u Adamu (Darazo) while the
erstwhile Caretaker Chairman of Tafawa Balewa was appointed by
Governor Mohammed as a Special Adviser, Legal Affairs.
“One of the reasons one of the local government chairmen was
removed was because he was cutting trees. You shouldn’t do that.
Our environment is dear to us. Today, we have people coming to
Bauchi who are not citizens of the state colluding with local
government chairmen and deforesting our forest, we cannot accept
that.
“Some of them were selling government lands and allocating them
without approval, please we should excuse selfishness,” he
said.
Mohammed charged the in-coming caretaker chairmen to shun
corruption, high-handedness and carry along all stakeholders in
their various local governments.