Recall Suspended Degema Chair, Youth Leader Begs Wike
3 min read
Edith CHUKU
Some stakeholders in the state have appealed to the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, to call back to office, the three local government chairmen who were suspended.
Wike’s suspension of the chairmen has continued to generate controversy, following the assertion by some persons that the governor had no constitutional right to suspend them.
These claims appear absurd to some leaders in the state who holds that the governor did not act outside his jurisdiction by suspending the chairmen.
The three suspended chairmen are those in Abua/Odual, Daniel O. Daniel, Port Harcourt City, Victor Ihunwo, who is also the chairman of ALCON in the state, and that of Degema, Tony Philmoore.
According to the state government in a statement made available to TNN by the state commissioner for information and communications, Paulinus Nsirim, , the Port Harcourt City L.G.A Chairman was suspended over alleged illegal tax collection.
Meanwhile, TNN gathered that the Abua/Odual and Degema chairmen, who were earlier suspended were alleged to have turned up late to a crucial meeting with the governor over the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Kalabari Youth President, Ipalibo Madodoye is appealing to governor to call back the executive chairman of Degema Local Government Area to office.
According to the youth leader, “before now, out of three LGAs in Kalabari ethnic nationality, only AKULGA had a functional chairman. Governor Wike, please call back DELGA chairman..
“I passionately appeal to him to forgive the suspended elected chairman of Degema Local Government and please call him back to work as the absence of the elected chairman could stall developmental activities in the LGA as someone in acting capacity would not understand the scope or delve into projects or programme such person isn’t familiar with.
“It is in the same vein that I equally urge Mr. Projects to pardon the principal officers of Degema council that he suspended and ordered their replacements as the bottlenecks and loopholes created by these situations if not quickly redressed could slow governance in the affected areas.”
Madodoye who had earlier called on the state governor to use his office to make possible the swearing in of a substantive Executive Chairman for the people of Asari-Toru local government, further applauded the governor for yielding to their appeal.
“Kalabari youths and stakeholders pleaded with Governor Wike to swear in the vice chairman of ASALGA as Chairman which he heeded on August 5th, 2020 and we commend him for that. This will enable Asalgans benefit from the democratic dividends. Kalabari as an ethnic nationality has three LGAs comprising, Degema, Asari-Toru and Akuku-Toru and it was not fair that only Akuku-Toru was manned by an Executive Chairman.
“We urge the new ASALGA boss not to delve into traditional matters capable of causing crisis in Kalabari land, but give priority attention to health, youths, women enterprise development and reformative justice programs capable of contributing to the sustenance of peace in ASALGA and by extension, Kalabari land.”
Speaking on the Trans-Kalabari ring road, he said “Port Harcourt, the state capital is greeted with infrastructural projects from Garrison to Rumuola, Rumuokoro, etc, to which I commend the governor for the feat his administration is pulling and plead that he commences the Trans-Kalabari Ring Road as it’s long overdue.”
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