The recent dissolution of the local government council chairmen by the PDP led administration in Zamfara has no doubt raised a strong criticism from amongst politicians and legal experts who opined that, laid down rules and procedures have not being followed in instituting the process. APC in specific has raised an alarm that, the decision to dissolve the council chairman is a clear contempt of court hence there are three pending court cases instituted against the PDP led government at the Federal and State High Courts in Gusau. This plus some other issues have no doubt trailed the one year anniversary of the PDP led government in Zamfara state as the State APC Chairman Lawal M. Liman wild out time to with the editorial team of THUNDER BLOWERS ONLINE NEWS MEDIUM to discuss this very important development trending in the state.
The PDP led government in Zamfara State has dissolved the 14 local government council chairmen over allegations of reckless spending of public funds and being reluctant on security matters in their respective domains, what is the reaction of your party on this new development?
All I want to tell you as Chairman of the APC in the state is, the dissolution is illegal, unconstitutional and a clear attempt to truncate democracy and justice. The action of the PDP in Zamfara State has demonstrated clearly that, the state government is ready to muscle the constitutional powers of the local government being the third tiers of government. Everybody knows that, APC is a political party that respects the rule of law and respects the will of the people.
This issue started like a scene in a comedy. On the 4th of June 2020, and it culminated into a full blown drama by the 5th of June meaning, a day after, we have witnessed the removal of the substantive Chairmen and swearing in of the new Sole Administrators by Governor Bello Matawalle. It is indeed an unfortunate scenario but we are going to challenge it.
But don’t you see that, the legislatures have acted according to their constitutional jurisdiction?
Like we have heard, the Council Chairmen were dissolved because of the allegations of reckless spending as highlighted in the 2018 Auditor General’s Report as well as lack of paying due attention to security matters and the allegation was made generic on all the 14 local government Council Chairmen.
Ordinarily, what we expected them to do was to invite these people and serve them with the notice of the charges and also give them the opportunity to defend themselves, but to our surprise and amazement that has not been done.
The state assembly members raised the allegations, deliberated on the findings, recommended for their dissolution and appointment of new caretaker council chairmen all within a span of 24 hours and the governor acted outrightly. This is virtually illogical and something that cannot stand the taste of time.
And again, if I may ask who are those that were appointed as sole administrators? Of course, those eight Council Chairmen who betrayed their party, the APC and defected to the PDP and funny enough the legislators failed to take note of the simple facts that, the allegations they have raised earlier was against all the fourteen Council Chairmen. So which method and criteria was used to clear those Chairmen who have defected to the ruling PDP and which other one was used in indicting those six others who feel they have a moral duty to stay within their party that provided them with all the opportunities. This is purely politics but being played wrongly because no reasonable being can accept this illogical reasoning of the PDP government in Zamfara State.
The Governor can say he has the right to appoint sole administrators pending the conduct of the fresh local government election, don’t you think so?
Who accorded him with such a right? And don’t forget even the so-called local government law they cited throughout, it has made its provisions very clear that, only a public servant not below Grade level 14 can be appointed as the sole administrator of a local government in Zamfara state in the event of unwanted eventualities. So let me ask you, those eight council Sole Administrators appointed by the PDP, are they civil servants on Grade Level 14 and above as required by the law?
Like I have mentioned earlier, they removed these eight council chairmen simply because they refused to do the bidding of the PDP and we are not as a party deterred at all because like I said, we are pursuing the matter legitimately in court of competent jurisdiction.
How confident are you that, you will win this case in court?
We are absolutely confident, let me remind you, relying on section 7 (1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and section 81(a) and (b) of Zamfara State Local government law, our party is absolutely confident that, it will win this court cases in the longrun.
But you already claim to have pending case in court and now you are approaching the court again how many cases are you going to file?
The All Progressive Congress APC has three pending cases in respect of local government councils in Zamfara State which are before the Federal and State High Courts, Gusau respectively which outcomes were still being awaited for by the PDP, but because PDP and the Governor were in a hurry to execute what we termed as “illegality,” they felt they were not under any obligation to respect the laws of the land.
Can you be specific about the court cases?
There is a case between Ahmad Abubakar Maradun, the Executive Chairman of Maradun Local Government and Zamfara State House of Assembly and Governor of Zamfara State in case No: FHC/CS/CS/34
/2019 instituted before the Federal High Court, Gusau on the 4th of July, 2019 challenging his purported unconstitutional suspension from office as elected Chairman of Maradun Local Government by the members of the state house of assembly.
/2019 instituted before the Federal High Court, Gusau on the 4th of July, 2019 challenging his purported unconstitutional suspension from office as elected Chairman of Maradun Local Government by the members of the state house of assembly.
There is another case between Peoples Democratic Party and other political parties in the state against 14 local government council members and their political party that is the All Progressive Congress and Zamfara State Independent Electoral Commission (ZASIEC) in case No: ZMS/GS/25/2019.
There is another one Accord Party and others versus Zamfara State Independent Electoral Commission and the other one with case No: ZMS/GS/2019 Hon. Muhammad Umar and others versus Governor, Zamfara State Independent Electoral Commission and Zamfara State House of Assembly.
Our position as a political party, until these cases are determined by these courts, we believe the PDP government needs to respect the laws and dignity of the Nigerian courts by maintaining the status quo. We still insist, the dissolution is illegal and unconstitutional likewise the appointment of the local government Sole Administrators is illegal and unconstitutional.
Why do you have so much confidence in the Nigerian Courts?
Because the sitting Governor of Zamfara State was brought to power through the decision of the court even though everybody knows that the mandate is not his mandate politically. But as a party we respected that decision and we believe in the rule law.
This is the same reason why we believe same courts that gave him the mandate will actually do justice to us in due course.
What is your appeal to the party supporters?
As a law abiding political party, we totally reject the manners at which PDP government is trying to destroy the democratic principles in Zamfara state and we will continue to pursue this injustice legitimately. We are also calling on the members of national and international democratic institutions; Civil Society Organizations to as a matter of saving the system continue to pursue the PDP government in the state till the right thing is done.
I also wish to call on our teeming supporters and members to continue to remain law abiding and respectful to constituted authorities while we will continue to defend what belongs to them no matter what it costs.
