A lawyer, Nkereuwem Abraham, has faulted the appointment of local government caretaker chairmen in Akwa Ibom State by Governor Bassey Eno, saying it is unconstitutional.
He said appointing council administrators without giving the people opportunity to choose who to lead or represent them at the council level is also undemocratic.
Abraham cited the Supreme Court case of Hon. Chigozie Eze & Ors vs Governor of Abia State & Ors (2014) Lpelr 36538 Sc, in which former Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour held that the governor and any of its agents lacked the legal competence to dissolve elected councils and appoint caretaker or transition committees.
The lawyer said in a statement: “Any act done by any of the local government caretaker committee chairmen appointed by Governor Eno is not only invalid but also illegal and unconstitutional.
“We give the governor not more than six months to conduct an election and hand over to elected chairmen in Akwa Ibom or face legal action.”
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Abraham, a former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecution, argued that the appointment of caretaker chairmen also flouts Section 7 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that a state must “ensure their existence under a law which provides for establishment, structure, composition, finance and function of such councils”.
He noted: “If a democratic government as Akwa Ibom’s is afraid of conducting an election to local government councils, is it the military government or authoritarian government that will?
“Unelected local government chairmen assume a position of not being answerable to the people but pay allegiance to the governor who appointed them because, after all, no one voted for them.
“This is where Eno lost the battle. Instead of thinking about how to develop the state, he is thinking of compensating loyalists by making them caretaker chairmen.
“The caretaker committee chairmen were sworn in by the governor who urged them to be committed to rural development, meaning the caretakers are coming to stay.
“Just as the President cannot appoint a sole administrator or sole governor to take charge of any state, by that same measure no governor possesses the powers to appoint sole administrators to administer councils.”