By Peter Duru
MAKURDI—The controversy that has trailed the appointment of caretaker committees for the recently dissolved 23 local governments in Benue State has forced Governor Gabriel Suswam to shelve plans to constitute the third tier of government in the state.

Vanguard gathered that the decision to defer the constitution of the committees was premised on the deluge of petitions received from different caucus members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, across the state.

The governor, who was expected to announce names of the members of the caretaker committees yesterday, resolved to push the announcement forward after a major petition received from Ado Local Council PDP, that questioned the legality of nominating for appointment a new member of the party being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for advance fee fraud.

In the petition obtained from the PDP State Secretariat, Messrs Sunday Onah and Francis Ottah Agbo, leaders of the party from Ijigban Ward, advised Governor Suswam not to respect the imposition of a candidate by the local council caucus against the interest of the people.

They argued that the nominated candidate (names withheld) was involved in defrauding a bank in Abuja and was arrested by the Police after a three-month manhunt, stating that he was currently on bail and is being prosecuted at an Abuja court by the Police.

According to the petition, the candidate imposed on party members by the caucus also lacks administrative experience as he just completed his mandatory National Youths Service Corps, NYSC, in 2010.

The leaders urge that the post of secretary of Ado local council be zoned to another ward, Ulayi, since the immediate past council chairman, James Edeh, hailed from their ward, Ijigban.

They argued that in case the governor insists that the secretary of Ado local council be appointed from Ijigban ward, two names would be availed the governor for consideration.