The former Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Leyii Kwanee, has told the outgoing Local Government Chairman in Rivers State to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as their tenure as Chairman has expired, News About Nigeria reports.
He stated this while speaking against the backdrop of the pandemonium originating from the local government chairmen tenure extension on Tuesday.
He noted that, according to the constitution, their tenure expired at midnight on Monday, June 17.
However, he added that there is still a window of opportunity for a few of them who may want to seek a second term, according to the law.
The former acting Speaker in the state’s 7th Assembly stated that the estranged former Speaker Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule and the 26 others created landmines for the former council chairmen by hurriedly enacting Law No. 2 of 2024.
According to him, law No. 2 of 2024, which stipulated a tenure extension by a period of six months, was hurriedly made by the sacked 27 lawmakers and is not known before the constitution or the law of Rivers state.
He added that those who enacted the law were not lawmakers at the time they came up with it because their seats had already been declared vacant by the competent court of jurisdiction.
“I have watched with keen interest the avoidable escalation of the political crisis that has rocked our dear state in almost one year now with a particular concern about the unfortunate uproar ignited by the so-called tenure elongation for the outgone council chairmen.
“The constitution stipulates in Section 7(1) the system of local government by democratically elected local government councils. It means that, as an elected tier of government, there is also an end to the tenure of such a government.
“The law No. 2 of 2024, which was hurriedly made by the sacked 27 lawmakers, is not known before the constitution or the law of Rivers State. Those who enacted this law of tenure extension by a period of six months were not lawmakers as at the time they came up with it because their seats had already been declared vacant by the competent court of jurisdiction.
“The 27 former lawmakers ignorantly and blindly created landmines for themselves and the immediate past local government council chairmen by enacting that bizarre law, which was a deliberate ploy to cause tension in Rivers state,” he stated.
He, therefore, called on the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, to invoke the necessary provision of the constitution to deal with anybody or group igniting political crisis in the state, and also urged elders and leaders of the state to rise and condemn the deliberate act by some politicians bent on causing unwarranted tension to derail democratic process in Rivers state.
