IMO LG CRISES: Let heads not roll, Presidency must caution Ihedioha now or...

Reports have it that today; 19th June,2019, across the 27 local government areas of Imo state, Executive chairmen, vice chairmen, councillors and supervisors showed up at the various local government council areas, well seated in their various offices not minding the rumoured press release making rounds on social media said to have emanated from the office of the chief press secretary to Imo state Governor.

Until this evening as at the time the duly elected local government council officials across the 27 LGAs in Imo state assembled at the APC state secretariat for a press conference, it has been noted that no written documentary evidence from either the Imo state house of Assembly or any agent of Imo state government has written the local government officials about the purported suspension of Imo state local government officials.

It was also recorded that the said interim management committee members appointed to replace the duly elected local government officials were restricted from gaining access into any of the offices at the local government areas except in two local government areas namely Ezinihitte Mbaise and Aboh mbaise local government areas were the local government chairmen were not seen except for few councillors. In some local government areas, the IMC members after pleading to use the council halls to address their members, the executive chairmen allowed them to use the council halls on the grounds that the hall belongs to the entire people of the Local government areas.

For the local government officials, no one can intimidate them out of their duly elected offices without constitutional process as they expressed worries about the cluelessness of the attorney general of Imo state for not advising the state Governor accordingly in respect of the looming crises.

The Owerri Municipal born lawyer (Attorney general of Imo state) is said to come with loads of experience supposedly from private practice and as a fiery advocate for respect for the constitution and human rights.

During his swearing in ceremony, he openly bragged and prided himself as the first member of the inner bar or SAN to be appointed into the office of Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice since the creation of Imo State about 43 years ago and promised to work magic in the legal and justice sector.

This historical record which raised the hope of all concerned that Imo will witness a regime of rule of law compliance and total obedience to constitutional order was quickly dashed in less than 99 hours following the unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional suspension of all elected Local Government Area Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen and all elected Councillors by a Press Release to that effect from an aide of the Imo Governor.

This Imo Governor's outing is a constitutional travesty and a legal aberration and a big dent on the records of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.

This worrisome development is shameful because as a SAN, NA Nnawuchi knows and ought reasonably to know that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has repeatedly held that State Governors have no power to suspend or dissolve elected Local Government Area Council Chairmen and the way and manner the one in Imo State was done violently clashes with the decision of the Supreme Court.

As a SAN, NA Nnawuchi knows or ought reasonably to know that fair hearing is an inalienable right of the citizen and sacrosanct in our body of laws. No law, not even in emergency situations, allows infraction or derogation of the right to fair hearing. 

So why did the "first SAN to  be appointed Attorney- General  and Commissioner for Justice in Imo State" acquiesce to the Imo Governor unlawfully sacking all these public officials when they were never heard and thereby denying them fair hearing contrary to the provisions of section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended?

NA Nnawuchi as a SAN knows or ought reasonably to know that each Local Government Chairman and or Local Government Vice Chairman and or Councillor has an office and tenure seperate and distinct from that of the others. 

N.A. Nnnawuchi as a SAN knows that under the law, nothing yokes or connects the Chairman and or Vice Chairman of his Owerri Municipal Council with the tenure of and stay in office of the Chairman and or Vice Chairman of Aboh Mbaise Or Nkwerre or Oguta Local Government Areas for example. 

How can a responsible and responsive government sack all elected Councillors in all the 27 Local Government Councils in Imo State without fair hearing and without any charge or allegation levelled against each and every one of them?

As a SAN, N.A. Nnawuchi ought to know for example that one  Councillior in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Council has a seperate and distinct tenure of office from a fellow Councillor from the same Local Government Area and ditto with the other Councillors from other Local Government Councils in Imo State. 

So why the intolerable legal somersault and naked infraction of the constitutional rights and freedoms of fellow citizens by a Government that has a SAN as its Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice?

Sadly, the Imo State Local Government Area Laws did not authorise and cannot authorise the Governor to suspend all the 27 elected Chairmen, their 27 Vice- Chairmen and Councillors in one fell swoop without any allegation levellled against each and every one of them and without opportunity of fair hearing offered to  each and every one of them.

The contraption of Interim Management Committee and Members used to supplant duly elected Chairmen, Vice-Chairmen and Councillors is unconstitutional and unknown to law.

In the light of the foregoing, we think that N.A. Nnawuchi SAN must call the erring Government to order on its constitutional breaches. We further demand that he should resign immediately for abusing both his Oath of Office as an Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and his rank as a SAN.

The directors of administration and general services (DAGS) in the 27 local government areas confirmed that they have not received any formal letter from any agent of the state government as regards the appointed interim management committee or suspension of elected officers of the local government areas. One of the DAGS admitted that they only got a text message sent to their mobile phones from the office of the secretary to Imo state government directing them to receive members of the interim management committee appointed by the governor.

If not for the swift intervention of security agencies in some local government areas, heads would have rolled in Imo state and of course a state of emergency would have been inevitable.

No blood of any Imolite is worth to be sacrificed for this barbaric and unconstitutional act against the officials of the 3rd tier of government in Imo state.

The President of the federal republic of Nigeria must as a matter of urgency act now by calling the Imo state Governor to order before things gets out of hand.

Gov. Ihedioha Emeka should look inwards not to allow sycophants and over zealous aides make him shoot himself on the foot... as there are looming unforseen variables from different quarters from the "top" that will make things difficult for him if he fails to retrace his steps.

Imo State is not a Banana Republic and the State Government must stand prepared to respect the decisions of the Supreme Court of Nigeria as the apex court of law and policy and the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended on Local Government autonomy.

I am Barr. Jubril Shettima,

saying it the way it is from my Abuja consulting room.