By Friday Idachaba
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Kogi chapter, on Friday threatened to drag Kogi Government to court over alleged refusal to conduct elections into the 21 local governments in the state.
Muhammed Lawal, state Chairman of the party, who disclosed this at a news conference in Lokoja said the constitution of caretaker committees as Administrators for the 21 local council areas was illegal.
Lawal said the party was already exploring ways to ensure that the state government follow due process and conduct the election, saying that his party was tired of waiting for the exercise.
“We are going to draw the attention of the Governor to the need to conduct local government election because we have a constitutional provision that backs our claim.
“There is a subsisting court judgement before now, secured late Barrister James Ocholi against the PDP government on the matter.
“He got the court judgement that ruled that there is nothing like administrator or caretaker chairman.
“Automatically, the judgement is there already and it is just for us to approach the court for its invocation,” he said.
He expressed concern that the caretaker committees constituted by the Gov. Yahaya Bello had already spent over one year in office before the governor extended their tenure by another six months.
The party chairman said that a bye-law by the state House of Assembly stipulated that no administration should exceed one third of its tenure in office without conducting local government elections.
On the ongoing political tussle in the state, the APGA state chairman urged the actors to find a way of resolving their differences amicably rather than over heating the polity.
