By Festus Ahon

ASABA—THE legislative arm of Ndokwa East Local Government Area, Delta State, has urged the state House of Assembly to ratify its suspension order on the chairman of the council, Mrs Nkechi Chukwura, over her alleged refusal to render account of income and expenditure of the council’s funds since the inception of her administration.

Leader of the legislative arm, Mr Matthew Uzoka, who briefed newsmen in Asaba, said they had since sent a copy of the resolution of their sitting of March 4, wherein the council Chairman was suspended to the state House of Assembly for ratification.

Reacting, the embattled council chairman, Mrs Chukwura, described the allegations as untrue, saying that she had not touched the council’s funds since she assumed office.

Uzoka, flanked by 11 out of the 15 councillors in the legislative arm, alleged that they were being sidelined in the running of the council, accusing the embattled council chairman, Chuckwura, of awarding contracts for the collection of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, to her siblings without due process.

Alleging that the council chairman was operating without a budget, he appealed to the House of Assembly to act on their resolution.

Chief Whip of the House, Cynthia Oputa who spoke in the same vein, said that their action was to put a stop to “her deliberate misappropriation of the council meager resources.”

Oputa said that they had petitioned the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC to investigate the matter.

Reacting, Mrs Chukwura said that she meets with the councillors on monthly basis, noting that the 2015 budget was still operational till the end of the first quarter of the year.

Disclosing that the 2016 budget was ready but the councillors had not sat to receive it, she said that the council has reassessing the monthly tax of oil companies operating in the area with a view to shore up the IGR of the council.