By PETER DURU, Makurdi
As resentments continue to trail Wednesday’s dissolution of the 18 local government council caretaker committees of Benue state, a crisis of confidence is alleged to have erupted between Governor Gabriel Suswam and his deputy, Chief Steven Lawani over the sacking of the the leadership of the councils.

This is just as a group under the aegis of Idoma Youths Solidarity Front, IYSF, has called on the embattled deputy governor to resign his position on the premise  that he has failed to represent the interest of the people of Benue South district in his capacity as deputy governor of the state.

Saturday Vanguard gathered from a reliable source that the conflict between Governor Suswam and his deputy had erupted following the decision of Chief Lawani to doctor a memo Governor Suswam approved for the dissolution of 19 out of the 23 local government areas of the state before he jetted out of the country with President Jonathan Goodluck on Wednesday.

The approval for the sack was sequel to the new local government laws passed by the State Assembly which stipulated the sack of caretaker committees which had stayed beyond six months in the saddle.
Findings revealed that the caretaker committees at the 19 of the 23 local government areas in the state had stayed in the office for close to one year, hence, the decision of the Governor to adhere to the new law by approving the sack of the affected council committees with the exception of Makurdi, Tarka, Agatu and Gboko council areas whose caretaker committees were constituted about three months ago.

Vanguard gathered that the deputy governor allegedly tampered with the original memo by excluding Okpokwu local government caretaker committee from the list of councils to be sacked.

According to our source who is very close to the corridors of power but craved anonymity, the Governor was infuriated  when his attention was drawn to his deputy’s action, describing the action of his deputy as a negation of his powers and authority as governor of the state.