Party alleges plot to cause chaos in Ekiti

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday claimed there are plots to instigate chaos and instability in Ekiti State to force the federal government to impose a state of emergency in the state.

It said that the plans involve using the recent dissolution of local government councils in the state as a pretext to foment trouble throughout the state.

The party’s candidate, Kayode Fayemi, last month became governor of the state after the court ruled that the former PDP government has been illegally occupying the office since 2007. The two parties, which are evenly matched at the state assembly, have been at each other’s throat since.

Mr Fayemi recently dissolved the executive councils of all the local governments in the state and on Monday inaugurated a new care taker committee to take over the running of the councils. The sacked council bosses are all members of the PDP because the ACN, which was then in the opposition, boycotted the local government election that brought them in.

The state’s chapter of the PDP has, however, ordered the ousted local government chairmen and councillors to resume their office in open challenge to their sack.

This order, a statement issued by the ACN National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed said, is part of the plot by the opposition to trigger trouble that will be used “as an excuse to prevail on the President to impose a state of emergency on the state.’’ He warned that “any attempt to foment trouble will be resisted by the peace-loving but courageous and indefatigable people of the state. If the government has not deemed it fit to slam emergency rule on states like Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Abia where militancy and kidnapping are thriving, or states like Ogun and Oyo which have become hotbeds of political thuggery, why would anyone even brood such for a peaceful state like Ekiti,” he said.

The party said whoever thinks the law has been broken with the dissolution of the Ekiti councils and the appointment of caretaker committees should head to court rather than take to the streets.

It advised the PDP to emulate it (the ACN), which has always resorted to the courts to resolve any political logjam.

Lawmakers boycott

On the controversy over the decision of 12 members of the 26 member state house of assembly to ratify the dissolution of the assembly, Mr Mohammed said the blame should go to the PDP lawmakers.

“The decision by the PDP members of the Ekiti House of Assembly to boycott that sitting is in line with what the PDP has been doing in Edo State, where lawmakers have been boycotting assembly sessions for the past six months, hoping this will grind the machinery of state. If any member of the house anywhere refuses to attend sessions, he or she should be recalled, and possibly charged with treason,” he said.

The party also pointed out that it is out-numbered in Osun State House of Assembly, the National Assembly and many other states, but that its members have always ensured that “we will have our say, even if we can’t have our way.”