Last week’s forced removal of Chairman Henry Baro of Uvwie Local Government Area in Delta State—a move made by the State’s House of Assembly under the instructions of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa—has taken another dramatic twist as the legislative arm of the council petitioned the Senate President Bukola Saraki on the illegal action.
Last week’s forced removal of Chairman Henry Baro of Uvwie Local Government Area in Delta State—a move made by the State’s House of Assembly under the instructions of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa—has taken another dramatic twist as the legislative arm of the council petitioned the Senate President Bukola Saraki on the illegal action.
Obtained by SaharaReporters, the petition was dated August 10th, 2015. The councilors also vowed to sue Governor Okowa and the Delta State House Speaker, Monday Igbuya, over what they described as the unconstitutional removal of the council chairman. They accused Governor Okowa of doing so because the local council in question and the chairman in particular did not support him during the last election.
"When it became obvious that we could not be stopped from doing our legitimate work or submitting to the dictates of the State Government, the Delta State House of Assembly resorted to underhand tactics and brazen display of might to scuttle our proceeding and intimidate the elected chairman of the Local Government Council,” the petitioners stated.
Meanwhile, a political group called Concerned Uvwie Political Patriots (CUPP) on Wednesday warned the State House Speaker and other legislative members to reverse the suspension order slammed on Mr. Baro. The group issued a statement through its National President, Pastor Innocent Adjenughure, a lawyer.
"It is regrettable that the Delta State House of Assembly which is composed of persons that are supposed to make laws for the good governance of the state, chose to flagrantly disregard or ignore due process and the rule of law in suspending the Uvwie Local Government Chairman who was duly elected into the office by the Uvwie people," Mr. Adjenughure stated.
It would be recalled that for allegedly working against his governorship candidature in the 2015 gubernatorial elections, as well as disobeying his orders to relinquish the Uvwie Central Motor Park of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW) to his loyalists, Governor Okowa manipulated Mr. Igbuya to suspend the Uvwie council chairman.