Determined to ensure that it does not lose out from the continued struggle for who controls the 27 Local Government Areas in the state, the Imo State arm of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON, has moved a step further to ensure that the Okorocha led administration does not exclude them from the scheme of things in various councils in the state.
Irrespective of court rulings, claims and counter claims from both parties on the lingering crisis, the state government last week organized a JAAC meeting where money was released to LGAs for the month of August, 2012. The money was made available to the various Directors of Administration and General Services, DAGS.
Reacting to the development, ALGON scribe, Barr Enyninnaya Onuegbu said that the elected chairmen have began committal proceedings against the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Jerry Okolie and the permanent secretary in charge of the ministry for contempt of court.
According to Onuegbu, who is the chairman of Ngor Okpala Local Government of the state, “what took place recently was not JAAC meeting. What they did was to merely read out figures to people and the Commissioner quickly hurried away. Is that JAAC meeting? That is not the method for JAAC meetings. DAGS are not expected to be there without democratically elected chairmen.
“Any JAAC meeting in the state without elected chairmen is illegal and abuse of court decision. The Federal High Court andAppeal Courthave ruled that nobody including the state government should interfere in the affairs of the local government. So how come they are sharing LG allocation without the democratically elected chairmen? It is illegal.
“Nobody has bothered to ask about the June allocation which was shared in July and July allocation shared in August past months. Within these monthsImoStatecouncils received about N7.5b from the Federation Account. If you add it up with N67.3 from June 2011-June 2012 you will see what Imo has gotten from the federal government within this period. You will see how the fund is being filtered away.
While the chairmen have returned to the law courts to seek committal proceedings against the government officials in the sharing the council allocation without their consent, Onuegbu said that they have urged the Federal Government to intervene in the matter.
The ALGON scribe however indicated that Imo people could be suffering from a spell not have asked what the Owelle Okorocha administration has done with the LG money received so far. “Despite their claims, no single project has been successfully executed so far in the LGAs. The new 27 General Hospitals are still at infant stages, no boreholes sunk in any community, even the 24-kilometer road not seen any where, yet they claim the money has been used for one project or the other”, Onuegbu added.
Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Okolie had after the JAAC meeting told newsmen that about N313, 308, 5672.51 were to ensure that the LGAs will continue to develop in line with the Rescue Mission Agenda adding that the allocation was neither for the TC Chairmen nor the LGA Chairmen.
