By Amos Tauna
The sacking of District and Village heads in Kaduna State, northwest Nigeria by Governor Nasiru El-Rufai, has no legislative backing, as the State House of Assembly did not receive any correspondence, or circular to that effect.
The Member representing Jaba Local Government constituency in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Bakoh Obadiah Whealst, says.
“We first heard about these development as a rumour, due to the fact that no correspondent or circular was served to the legislative arm of government.
“I personally overheard the executive governor responding to a question asked about the sacked district and village heads issue on radio by saying it was an executive fiat and a non legislation, and therefore has nothing to do with the state legislative arm of government,” he explained.
Addressing Journalists Thursday in Kaduna, Whealst expressed concern that the sack of the District and Village heads has made the villages increasingly vulnerable to crisis, especially in the ensuing farming season.
He said, the importance of the district and village heads particularly in resolving disputes, conflicts and crisis in the communities cannot be over-emphasised, adding that they have played vital roles in lowering the number of cases being attended to at police stations and courts.
Similarly, on the closed institutions in Southern Kaduna area of the state on grounds of insecurity, the lawmaker said the long closure of the institutions since last year to date needs to be revisited as a matter of urgency considering the relative peaceful atmosphere that the communities which host the institutions are currently enjoying.
On the conduct of local council elections, he said, “It is regrettable that the State Independent Electoral Commission, SIECOM, is yet to release the time table for the local government elections despite all the support they have received so far from the State government.
He lamented, “When other states are already enjoying the dividends of democracy at the local government level, we are yet to see any practical signs to convince the people that democracy will soon return to the grassroots level of governance after two years and three months.”
The House member expressed the worries of his people, strongly called for the re-opening of the closed institutions, reinstatement of all the district and village heads and the need for SIECOM to liaise with the state government for immediate conduct of local government election in the state.