By Paschal Njoku
ABUJA -Barely 72 hours after the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled on the financial autonomy of Local Government Councils, elders and leaders of Ekoli Community in Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, have rejected plans to reconstitute a caretaker committee for Ekoli Band of Hope Union.
In a statement on Sunday, the elders and leaders namely; Chief Thomas Ama, (Chairman of Ukejiogo Ruling Age Grade); Council of Village Heads member, Ezeogo Etta Egor Akanu, Pastors Isaac Chima Oti and Enworo Otta of the Ekoli-Edda Indigenous Pastors Forum, insisted that occupying positions in the town union must be through democratic election.
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They argued that election is the best way to get representatives of the people, adding that Emegha, who is the APC State chairman and a two-time lawmaker and former council chairman, Chima, should leave the stage for the people to choose their representatives in the union.
Recall that Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, had in January 2024, ordered the Constitution of a caretaker committee for the association for a period of six months in acting capacity.
But, as the tenure of the caretaker committee expired on July 7, 2024, the community elders and leaders staged a walk-out of a meeting convened by a faction of the union, describing it not only as toxic, but a ploy to perpetrate illegality.
The leaders noted that the recent Supreme court ruling on the issue of fiscal autonomy of Local Government Council has given impetus to community based organisations to exercise vigilance on the councils to ensure transparency.
The leaders noted that although two prominent All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders from the area, Hon. Stanley Emegha and Dr. Eni Chima, nominated candidates that constituted the caretaker committee that held sway in the past six months, no further caretaker committee should be set up.
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On the alleged plans by the loyalists of the APC state chairman to use a faction to work against their perceived opponents and the community’s interests, long-cherished values and traditions, the leaders said the will of the masses will circumvent those pedestrian machinations.
“We met at Ogbaja village square at Eji Udo Eme Town Hall and the resolution is that an election should be held as the tenure of the caretaker has expired.
“We regret to say that the last six months of the caretaker committee were characterized by attempts to politicize every traditional institution.
“The excesses of the caretaker committee were not limited to witch-hunting of people of divergent political orientation, high-handedness and intimidation, but also unmitigated criminality, especially burglaries and theft of farm produce.
“It was evident that those nefarious acts were perpetrated by a group of miscreants and political thugs imposed on the community as vigilante. There were not less than fifty of such incidents and not less than 17 court cases within that six months. Now that fiscal autonomy has been granted Local Government councils, communities should be independent to play the watchdog role.
“Consequently, members of our community having endured that nuisances since January and waited with baited breath for the end of that infamous reign, now demands the conduct of a formal election to usher in a legitimate leadership to pilot the affairs of the people in line with the spirit and letters of the provisions of the union’s Constitution” the leaders stated. END.
They lamented that contrary to the expectations of Ekoli people, the ousted caretaker Chairman, Kalu Mba and his group that are loyal to Chief Emegha, started gathering letters from unknown ‘village heads’ from the various villages that make up the community as endorsements passing “votes of confidence” purported to extend their stay in office.
While commending the Supreme Court judgment that invalidated caretakers, the leaders condemned the desperation of the imposed caretakers to cling on to power against the wishes of many people in the community as was witnessed during their last quarterly meeting on the 29th of June, 2024.
The community leaders and elders therefore announced their resolve to write a formal letter to the Ebonyi State Governor urging him to direct for the conduct of elections for the union with the synergy of; the Ministries of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Ministry of Border Peace and Conflict Resolution and Ministry of Rural Development, as well as the Security Agencies comprising the Police, State Security Service, Civil Defence and other sister security agencies.
