- Adeyeye faults opposition's stand
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has said that its governors are not against autonomy for local governments, contrary to reports in a section of the media yesterday, describing such reports as a gross misrepresentation of the governors' position on the issue.
In a statement issued yesterday by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the governors are only asking that such autonomy be determined by the state Houses of Assembly rather than the National Assembly. Mohammed said: ''For those who may have been misled by the media reports, we want to state our stand clearly.
In the first instance, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gives the state Houses of Assembly the power to create local governments. Therefore, autonomy for local governments should be debated at the Houses of Assembly, not at the National Assembly. ''Secondly, giving control of the local governments to the Federal Government, one of the two federating units in a federal system of government, will only result in the creation of a unitary government.
''And thirdly, all local government administration must be democratically elected in a free and fair election, while chairmen and councillors must be accountable to those who elected them."
Describing the APC as a 'welfarist party,' which believed in accountability and abhors any system where any local government administration is not freely and fairly elected, Mohammed said that appointment of caretaker committees to run local governments is an aberration, adding that such stand "definitely does not represent an opposition to autonomy for local governments."
The APC said instead of creating more problems by giving the National Assembly the power to regulate local governments, ways must be found to resolve existing problems for the smooth running of local governments.
It said: ''Let us ensure that local government elections are free, fair and credible; let us ensure that chairmen and councillors are accountable. Let us stop the appointment of caretaker committees to run local governments, because this is undemocratic. Let the state Houses of Assembly, which have the powers to create local governments also be able to determine the issue of autonomy.
"On the belief that some state governments appropriate funds meant for local governments, the cure is not for the Federal Government to give money directly to the local governments, but for states and local governments to agree on how to ensure a judicious expenditure of local government funds."
Meanwhile, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, has described the position of the APC governors against local government autonomy as setback for democracy and development in the country.
Adeyeye advised the APC governors to look beyond the councils' fund they had been spending in addition to their state funds and think about the overall interest of the people.
He said this in a statement by his campaign director-general, Hon Bisi Kolawole, adding that "the fear of the APC governors is understandable.
They are afraid of losing control over their states local councils fund that they have been spending the way they like."
