The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi(SAN), on Thursday, condemned the suspension of the 18 local government chairmen in Edo State by the state House of Assembly.
The Assembly suspended the 18 LG chairmen on Monday over what it termed insubordination to Governor Monday Okpebholo.
The governor had written the Assembly, complaining that the 18 LG chairmen flouted his directive for them to submit the financial statements of their councils.
The Assembly, therefore, slammed two month suspension on the LG chairmen.
Reacting to the development on Thursday, the AGF, who in July secured a Supreme Court judgment, granting autonomy to the 774 LGAs in the country, described the suspension of the Edo council chairmen as an illegality.
Fagbemi said, “One thing that I know and can say without fear is that under the present dispensation, the governor has no right to remove any local government chairman.
That much I know.
“If I did not know before, since July 11, 2024, I became aware of it that the removal of any local government chairman or official would be the prerogative of that local government, through their legislative house.”
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday grilled the suspended Edo LG chairmen.
Our correspondent gathered that all the 18 suspended local government chairmen were invited by the anti-graft agency.
While nine of them reported to the commission’s office on Thursday, the remaining were expected on Friday.
A top source in the commission, who carved anonymity, because he was not permitted to speak on the matter, told our correspondent as of 5:30 pm that the suspended chairmen were still being grilled.
“They are here and are still being interrogated as I speak with you. The chairmen were earlier invited based on the allegations against them. They are in two batches; the first batch, which included the chairmen of Akoko-Edo, Egor, Esan Central, Esan North East, Esan South East, and Esan West, came today; others are expected tomorrow.
“Those here already came with documents of their payroll and statement of accounts from the beginning of the year,” the source said.
Another source said the embattled chairmen were invited following a petition from the state governor over the alleged diversion of local government workers’ salaries.
“The governor wrote a petition to us, alleging that all the chairmen diverted money that was meant for workers of the various local government’s salaries between October and November. As a result of that, the salaries of workers were not paid and the workers have been grumbling and he called for an investigation.
“It was based on the petition that the chairmen were invited. Nine came today (Thursday) and they were at our Benin Office. We have started investigating the matter,” the source said.
When contacted, the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, confirmed that the suspended chairmen had been invited but declined further comments on the matter.
On Wednesday, the Edo State Governor, Okpebholo, inaugurated a panel to probe the council chairmen.
But the LG chairmen have rejected their suspension, describing it as an illegality in the face of LG autonomy.
