Suspended elected local government chairmen in Plateau have appealed to Governor Caleb Mutfwang to rescind the appointments of transition committees in the various LGAs to allow them to resume work.

Alex Na’antuam, leader of the suspended chairmen, made the plea when he briefed journalists on Wednesday in Jos, the state capital.

Mr Na’antuam, the embattled chairman of Shendam Local Government, said the transition committees appointed by the government were illegal.

Mr Mutfwang, on the recommendation of the ninth Plateau Assembly, suspended the elected 17 local government chairmen on June 1, 2023.

The chairmen, however, challenged their suspension at Plateau High Court, and the matter is still ongoing.

On June 9, 2023, the embattled chairs secured an interlocutory injunction restraining the governor from removing and replacing them with transition committee chairmen.

However, Mr Na’antuam appealed to the Inspector General of Police to take immediate action to unseal the 17 Local government council secretariats and allow constitutionally and democratically elected officials to resume their work.

Mr Na’antuam stated that upholding the rule of law and protecting the democratic process is a responsibility that falls upon the police force and urged them to take action.

He described as laughable the judgment of the Bukuru Area Court directing the Plateau police commissioner to unseal the local government secretariats.

According to him, a lower court does not have the power to adjudicate a pending matter in a superior court of law. 

(NAN)