The National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel has threatened to mobilize the grassroot people against any state Governor who is against the Local Government autonomy.
Khaleel and some civil society groups warned politicians not to frustrate efforts on local government autonomy if they desired to have good outing and public acceptance at the 2019 general elections.
The NULGE President spoke to Journalists after the South-West meeting held in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Monday.
The meeting which had in attendance members of civil society groups said they would sustain their advocacy and ensure that the constitution review was achieved.
The Union and the Civil society groups, however, said they would continue to adopt dialogues and sensitisations of stakeholders on the need to have a working and autonomous third tier of government in the country.
Khaleel who urged politicians not to play politics with the issue, noted that third tier of government must be functioning if truly the country was practising democracy.
According to the meeting, “Third must be in place to bring governance close to the people. We must not play politics with the issue.
“Before we mobilise ourselves to the National Assembly, they should understand that that position of authority is to help people and to deprive them of their right.”
NULGE and civil society groups who noted that rendering local government impotent will not help democracy, said “there is no way the masses will go to poll without Autonomy “.
They said, “We are engaging the public, Houses of Assembly Speakers on the need to pass the bill without further delay.
“Dialogue is the key to any public discourse that is why we are here today and we will continue until we are successful with the struggle
“You can’t be a Governor without the mandate of the people and this local governments are places where Nigerians reside
“We will definitely go back, mobilize the grassroot because very soon Governors and all Other Politicians are coming back to demand for the renewal of their mandate. That is why we came up with a slogan that ‘No LG Autonomy, No Election.’
“We are going to sensitise our people so that they will also engage their legislators on the need to pass the bill. We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the bill is passed .”
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