The immediate past Chairman of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, Hon. Emmanuel Loman, on Tuesday debunked claims by the Governor Simon Lalong-led administration that the 17 council chairmen in the state were sacked because they were indicted by a panel set up by the immediate past governor of the state.
Loman disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Jos, the state capital.
He said, “It really unfortunate to hear this kind of statement from the Governor of Plateau State, he is someone I hold in high esteem.
“If I would go back to memory lane, the Governor gave the people of the State the reasons he dissolved us from office. His reasons were, when he traveled out of the country, we were so disobedient to him to the level that even when he returned, we did not go to the airport to welcome him.
“The second reason was that, we Chairmen of the LGAs obtained a court injunction from the High Court, restraining him from removing us from office; we did that because there were rumours ongoing and practical signs from the APC stakeholders, urging him to dissolve us as the democratically elected chairmen, and there were publications. That did not go down well with him.
“Basically those were the reasons; but unfortunately now he is coming out to say that the immediate past governor of the State, Senator Jonah Jang, set up a panel that indicted us as chairmen of LGAs, because we happened to have mismanaged funds of the councils, claiming that Jang left a report for him.
“Sincerely speaking there is nothing like that. All through our interaction with the immediate past governor, there has been no time at all, that any panel had to verify the activities of the 17 local governments.
“Except for the normal routine audit exercise, that has been taking place periodically in the LGAs, and these are basically administrative procedures.”
Loman maintained that even if the Governor is alleging that he sacked the chairmen because they were indicted by a panel, “there are procedures that are being put in place; if somebody is found wanting in a government office.
“I want to ask him, did he follow those procedures, before dissolving the councils? Or he just went ahead because he claimed to have seen a document that indicted the councils?
“If he has his facts let him make his facts available for plateau people to see”, he stressed.
Loman, who was then the ALGON Chairman in the state, further explained that, “I have been in contact with the immediate past governor of the State, and he confirmed to me that there was nothing like that, he said, he never left any document indicting the 17 councils in the State; even the immediate past Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dr Chris Kwaja, also confirmed to me that they did not submit any document of such to the present administration.
“I don’t know where he got the document he is claiming to have. He will do good to the people of Plateau if he can publish the document indicting the 17 councils.
Loman also denied claims by the Governor that the document indicting them was used as a threat to ensure they supported the candidate of PDP gubernatorial candidate in the last general elections.
It would be recalled that last weekend, Governor Simon Lalong, had during a media chat to mark his one year in office, said he had a document handed to him by the immediate past governor of the state, indicting the 17 council chairmen of mismanagement of local government funds.
According to him, that was why he sacked them from office to avoid further looting of the treasury of the councils.
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