The Edo State House of Assembly’s suspension of all elected chairmen and vice-chairmen across the 18 local government councils has sparked widespread outrage, with critics describing the move as a violation of the Nigerian Constitution and the recent Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy.
The House acted on a petition submitted by Governor Monday Okpebholo, who had earlier demanded that the local government chairmen submit statements of accounts to him—a demand widely criticized for its lack of legal basis. The suspended chairmen, all members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had already obtained an injunction restraining the governor from interfering in their constitutionally guaranteed functions.
Reacting to the development, Barr. Anthony Ehilebo, a PDP chieftain and Special Adviser on Media to Barr. Asue Ighodalo, lambasted the suspension as both illegal and politically motivated.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Ehilebo said, “This all started when the governor asked the LGA chairmen to submit statements of accounts to him. Of course, he has no legal backing to make such a demand; and everyone will recognize that it flies in the face of the recent Supreme Court judgement on the financial autonomy of local governments. In fact, the governor and the assembly members are in contempt of the Supreme Court.
“The purported suspension of the local government chairmen by the state assembly is as absurd as the president asking the National Assembly to suspend state governors because they refused to submit statement of accounts to him. This is a witch hunt. The LGA chairmen are all PDP members. The suspension is unknown to law and will be ignored.”
In a statement, the Edo State PDP Chairman described the suspension as an abuse of power. “This suspension is nothing but a desperate attempt to silence opposition and undermine local government autonomy. It is politically motivated, unconstitutional, and dead on arrival.”
The statement further called on the judiciary to intervene and uphold the rule of law, urging civil society to resist what the party described as a “reckless assault on democratic institutions.”