By PETER DURU

MAKURDI – Benue State Government has paid N1.4 billion to sacked local government councillors as judgment debt to the lawmakers whose tenure was wrongfully terminated in 2003 by the then George Akume-led administration.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Solomon Wombo, said  this in Makurdi.

He said the administration undertook to off-set the debt because of its belief in the rule of law and respect for the judiciary; “more especially, since we all know that government is a continuum.”

On alleged illegal deductions from allocations to the 23 local governments, Wombo said, “the law provides that monies should be deducted and given to the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, for the payment of teachers, and another for the payment of local government pensioners and the training of staff which is done by the local government service commission.

”Nobody engages in the arbitrary deductions; everything is done in line with the provisions of the law. But some of the council chairmen are insisting that since the teachers are serving in their councils, they should be allowed to pay the teachers, but they fail to understand the provisions of the law. Because the law is sacrosanct on the issue and we would not want to willfully contravene the law for any reasons whatsoever.”

The Adviser regretted that some of the chairmen who lost out in the newly reconstituted caretaker committees in the councils have resorted to blackmailing the government.

”Almost all of them wanted to return, they fought in their local government councils to have their names on the list for consideration but they forgot that they are not the only ones in their councils; other persons should also be allowed to bring in their ideas to help government at that level grow,” he stressed.

He however, assured that whatever was accruable to the members of the recently sacked caretaker committees would be paid to them in line with the provisions of the law, pointing out that, “They should habour no fears about that.”