A few days after Nigeria’s Supreme Court ruled on the financial autonomy of local government councils, elders and leaders of the Ekoli community in Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State have rejected plans to reconstitute a caretaker committee for the Ekoli Band of Hope Union.
Recall that Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, had in January 2024 ordered the constitution of a caretaker committee for the association for a period of six months in an acting capacity.
But, as the tenure of the caretaker committee expired on July 7, 2024, the community elders and leaders staged a walk-out at a meeting convened by a faction of the union, describing it not only as toxic but as a ploy to perpetrate illegality.
The leaders noted that the recent Supreme Court ruling on the issue of fiscal autonomy of local government councils has given impetus to community-based organisations to exercise vigilance on the councils to ensure transparency.
The leaders noted that although two prominent All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders from the area, Hon. Stanley Okoro Emegha and Dr Eni Uduma Chima, nominated candidates that constituted the caretaker committee that held sway in the past six months, no further caretaker committee should be set up.
In their position made available to journalists, Chief Thomas Ama (Chairman of Ukejiogo Ruling Age Grade), Council of Village Heads member Ezeogo Etta Egor Akanu, and Pastors Isaac Chima Oti and Enworo Otta of the Ekoli-Edda Indigenous Pastors Forum, the leaders called for democratic election into the union.
They argued that elections are the best way to get representatives of the people, adding that Emegha, who is the APC state chairman and a two-time lawmaker and former council chairman, Chima, should leave the stage for the people to choose their representatives in the union.
On the alleged plans by the loyalists of the APC state chairman to use a factional to work against their perceived opponents and the community’s interests, long-cherished values, and traditions, the leaders said the will of the masses will circumvent those pedestrian machinations.
The leaders stated, “We met at Ogbaja village square at Eji Udo Eme Town Hall, and the resolution is that an election should be held as the tenure of the caretaker has expired. We regret to say that the last six months of the caretaker committee were characterised by attempts to politicise every traditional institution.
“The excesses of the caretaker committee were not limited to witch-hunting of people of divergent political orientation, highhandedness, and intimidation but also unmitigated criminality, especially burglaries and theft of farm produce.
“It was evident that those nefarious acts were perpetrated by a group of miscreants and political thugs imposed on the community as vigilantes. There were not less than fifty such incidents and not less than 17 court cases within those six months. Now that fiscal autonomy has been granted to local government councils, communities should be independent to play the watchdog role.
“Consequently, members of our community, having endured those nuisances since January and waited with bated breath for the end of that infamous reign, now demand the conduct of a formal election to usher in a legitimate leadership to pilot the affairs of the people in line with the spirit and letters of the provisions of the union’s Constitution.”
They lamented that contrary to the reasonable expectations of Ekoli people, the expired caretaker chairman, Kalu Ama Mba, and his group, who are loyal to Chief Emegha, started gathering letters from unknown ‘village heads’ from the various villages that make up the community as endorsements passing “votes of confidence” purported to extend their stay in office.
While commending the supreme court judgement that invalidates caretakers, the leaders noted the desperation of the imposed caretakers to cling on to power against the wishes of many in the community, as was witnessed during their last quarterly meeting on June 29th of June, 2024.
The community leaders and elders therefore announced their resolve to write a formal letter to the Ebonyi State Governor urging him to direct the conduct of elections for the union with the synergy of the Ministries of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, the Ministry of Border Peace and Conflict Resolution, and the Ministry of Rural Development, as well as the security agencies comprising the Police, State Security Service, Civil Defence, and other sister security agencies.
They also demanded that the election be monitored by a personal representative of the governor, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the National Human Rights Commission, and members of the press.
Also speaking, a community leader, Mr. Agwu Okoro, disclosed how during “a General Assembly Meeting of Ekoli-Edda Community on Saturday, 29th of June 2024, the Chairman, who also strangely doubled as the Master of Ceremony, denied over 95 per cent of the people the opportunity to participate in the deliberations at the meeting.”
Okoro accused the expired caretaker chairman of arbitrarily changing the Chairman of Ukejiogo Ruling Age Grade, which he had no power to do and has never happened before in the history of the community.
He stated: “He (Kalu Mba) never allowed any of the Elders of the Community, any of the Village Heads, any of the Umuadas, the Community Women, any of the Indigenous Ministers of God, or other Community Leaders to talk. He even purported to have suspended some of the Care-Taker Committee members nominated through Hon. Chima.”
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