Nasarawa: PDP is planning to extend LGs’ tenure—CPC

From Habibu Umar Aminu, lafia
Posted: Monday, September 6, 2010

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Nasarawa State has said  it had uncovered a plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Government in the State under Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma to extend the tenure of Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the State.
The interim chairman of the party, Muhammad Lawyer El-Yakub in a statement made available to the New Nigerian in Lafia said that the this was part of the plans to be used by the PDP to manipulate the forth coming general elections to its advantage.
According to it,  should the state government fails in its attempt to extend the tenure of the elected officials, it will bring in a Transition Monitoring Committee (TMC) for each of the LGCs or Administrators by whatever nomenclature to hold forth.
It added that this action was intended to give the PDP administration in the State enough time to stay in office saying that ‘this plan is to be carried out in corroboration with the Nasarawa State House of Assembly (NSHA), which is expected to pass a law that will give the Council officials the grace of time’.
“We declare that the process to be embarked upon by the government is undemocratic and the CPC in Nasarawa State will resist any attempt to elongate the tenure of these occupiers of the Councils, with all the strength we can muster,’’ the statement said.
“The inactivity at the office of Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC) in Lafia as the tenure of the Councils comes to an end on 30th October, 2010; less than two months from today, is a strong indication that they are co-conspirators in this plot to unduly prolong the tenure of the Council officials,” it alleged.
The statement said”the Chairmen and Councilors were elected on 1st November, 2008 adding that if feelers are to show the intent for the conduct of the elections by now, the state electoral body, NASIEC should have been in top gear by now, preparatory to the elections.”
“Up to this moment NASIEC is yet to come up with guidelines for the elections, the timetable for the elections is yet to be released. Under normal circumstances, NASIEC should have already begun meeting with all the political parties that are interested in contesting the Council elections.
“We want to remind the Government that we are aware of a judgment by a Court in Lafia that has restrained the State Government from appointing anyone to oversee the affairs of LGCs in the State, under whatever name other than elected officials,” it said.
In view of the fore-going, the statement said ‘we advise NASIEC, that the world is watching and it is in the best interest of the body that it should begin without delay, the modalities toward conducting free, fair and credible elections’’