Majority Leader of Edo State House of Assembly, Charity Iguodala Aiguobarueghian, has said that elected Local Government Chairmen in the state should not be suspended as requested for in letter to the house by Governor Monday Okpebholo.

Speaking on the floor of the house, Charity Aiguobarueghian, who is representing Ovia North East 1 Constituency in the house, while faulting the request by the governor for the suspended of the elected local government chairmen, urged his fellow legislators to hear from the council chairmen before taking any decision.

He recommended that the issue be referred to the committee on local government.

He said the elected council chairmen should rather be made to give account of funds allocated to them through the appropriate committee at the house of assembly.

Charity Aiguobarueghian, a seasoned lawyer, experienced politician in the state and member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said suspension of elected council chairmen, is in its entirety against the judgement of the Supreme Court on local government autonomy as provided for in Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution, which he said is binding on all authorities residing within the territory of Nigeria.

Charity Aiguobarueghian said that local government autonomy as expressly provided for in the constitution, is being championed by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government.

“Mr Speaker sir, very respected colleagues, my name is Charity, Ighodala Aighobareyan, I represent the very sagacious people of Ovia North-east 1 Constituency and by God’s grace, the Majority Leader of this noble house. Mr Speaker, I won’t say it is a difficult position for me because by virture of my office, I liaise with government and that also means that government in all actions, concerning the house, passes its processes through me, reason being that at that point, I will be able to advice or contribute. It is quite unsettling to know about this letter this morning, whereas, it was supposed to have gone through the majority leader,” he said.

“And if I were in the know, I would have advice that we don’t take this route. We don’t take this route because it is not in sinc with the present position of the law; a position that is pro-banded, a position that pursued, a position that is at the foremost echelon of what the Federal Government is pursuing; that is local government autonomy. The Attorney-General of Nigeria, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, took the matter of local government autonomy to the Supreme Court, as a court of first jurisdiction, being a matter federal and other state governments.

“This was done in a suit No SE CV 3432024 between the attorney-general of the federation and attorney-general of the federal government; the APC government against the attorney-general of Abia State and 35 others. And the decision of the Supreme Court in that matter was very clear. The decision was that amongst others, that the local government councils are protected by virtue of Section 7 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And to that extent, by no guise will a governor or any house of assembly, though their own law, that is the local government law that we are referring to now, by any distort or dissolve local government councils in Nigeria, including Edo State.

“That is the law as at today. A Supreme Court decision taken by seven Justices of the Supreme Court, unlike the five Justices that sit over ordinary matters. And in that decision, the point was made clear and which point I would have made clear to Mr Governor, that today, this is what the Supreme Court says. Mr Speaker, the decision of the Supreme Court is binding on every authority, every person, every human, every institution that is under the canopy of the nation Nigeria”, added Charity Aiguobarueghian.

Continuing, Charity Aiguobarueghian said,
“The constitution is the beginning and the end of all the laws, every other law takes life from the constitution. I’m happy that the member representing Esan South East pointed to it clearly; Section 7 Sub 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says the local government shall be appropriated for by House of Assembly and I like the rider it gave, that if it can appropriate for them, we should be able to make them give account. Is that what we are saying here sir? No!

“Yes, we can make them give account to us but have we made them to give account to us? We have not. So I will pray that in a matter like this, what should be done, so that we would not be seen to be casting away every caution and trampling upon the laws of our land, let us hurry slowly, let this matter be sent to the committee that is responsible for local government, let these chairmen be called to account because suspending them before hearing from them will be tantamount to breaching that eternal law.

“Even God gave opportunities to Adam to defend himself when he said: ‘Adam, Adam, where art thou?’ Lets assume that these chairmen are Adams, let this house take the position that God took because we are all made in his image. Let’s say ‘chairmen, chairmen, where art thou?’ Let’s hear from them and the easiest way to do that Mr Speaker, is to refer them to the committee, to ask them this is the allegation against you, what do you have to say?”