Senator Moro must apologise to Benue people-Gov Alia
(Business Africa Digest)-
Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue state has demanded an apology from Senator Abba Moro representing the Benue South senatorial zone.
Alia alleged that Senator Moro misled the Senate regarding the accurate status of the Benue local government system.
Addressing a press conference over the weekend, the chief press secretary to Governor Alia, Kula Tersoo said contrary to Senator Moro’s motion paper on the floor of the Senate, it was the Benue House of Assembly that dissolved the 23 local government council chairmen in the exercise of their constitutional rights and not Governor Alia.
He further stated that under Sections 7 and 8 of the 1999 Constitution, the House of Assembly is vested with the power to oversight over local government councils.
Tersoo said: “The Benue state House of Assembly which has the power to oversee the local government system investigated the 23 local government council chairmen, their deputies, and councilors and were found to be involved in monumental fraud.
“It was the House of Assembly that dissolved the Local Government Councils Chairmen and Governor Hyacinth, in order not to create a lacuna at the third tier of the government system, appointed caretaker committees pending elections which cannot be done in one day.”
On the case against the governor in which the Industry Court passed judgement in favour of the chairmen, Kulas said, “We have appealed to the Court of Appeal and the matter is pending.
“Benue state government appealed the judgement of the Industrial Court. The appeal was filed on November 24, 2023, and marked No CA/MKD/155/2023
“We call on Sen. Abba Moro to tender unreserved apologies to the people of Benue state and Nigerians for misleading the senate to pass resolutions on a matter they lack the constitutional powers to legislate upon.
“We are calling on the Nigeria Senate to always properly scrutinise their motion papers to avoid a repeat of what Sen. Moro led them into. It will be a gross disservice for our Distinguished Senators to allow some selfish ones amongst them to drag them to becoming a laughing stock.”
Recall that the Senate on Friday, December 1, 2023, directed the Benue state governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, to reverse his decision to sack the elected local government councils in the state.
This followed a motion by Senate minority leader, Comrade Abba Moro, on Friday, December 1, 2023, where he moved a motion on the floor of the Senate on the affront on democratic structures in Benue state by the state government.
