The Chairman of Egor Local Government Council in Edo State, Mrs Eghe Ogbemudia has been suspended from office, Igbere TV reports.
Eghe, daughter of former military governor of Old Mid-West (Bendel) State, late Samuel Ogbemudia, was suspended from office on Thursday, October 10.
Although details of the suspension was still sketchy as at press time, her Chief Press Secretary, Stanley Atafoh confirmed the development in a chat with our correspondent.
“Yes, the information is true. My boss, Hon. Eghe Ogbemudia, the elected Executive Chairman, Egor Local Government Council, was this evening informed of her suspension from office”, he said.
When asked the reason behind the suspension, the CPS said, “I am yet to be informed on what ground was she suspended on (sic). I hope to get the true information as soon as it is made available.”
Igbere TV, however, reliably gathered that the Council Boss was suspended on the orders of Governor Godwin Obaseki for opposing his re-election bid in the Edo State 2020 election.
The Council Chairman is said to have repeatedly refused to openly declare support and endorse the Governor, like her counterparts in other Local Government Councils did.
A top aide of the Governor who craved anonymity, also accused Ogbemudia of identifying with the Edo Peoples Movement (EPM), a pressure group opposing Obaseki’s re-election bid.
“Yes, she was asked to step down following a petition that she is a member and secretly financing the activities of the dissenting group, EPM”, the source said.
The government functionary revealed that the group and its members have been been marked for sanction by the leadership of All Progressives Congress in Edo State.
The suspension of Ms Eghe Ogbemudia from office as Egor Council Boss, ahead Edo 2020 election, brings the total number of Council Chairmen suspended by Governor Obaseki to 4.
Suspension of Council Chairmen Illegal
The suspension of four Council Chairmen from office for whatever reasons amount to acts of lawlessness, unconstitutional and violation of the protected duties of the Local Governments to independently administer its affairs.
Governor Obaseki violated a Supreme Court judgment delivered in 2016 where a five-man panel led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, ruled on an appeal of similar suspension of Local Government Executives in Ekiti State, deemed the act as unconstitutional and in violation of the protected duties of the Local Government to independently administer its affairs.
“…Section 7(1) of the Constitution guarantees the system of local government by democratically-elected local government councils and conferred sacrosanctity on the elections of such officials whose electoral mandates derived from the will of the people freely exercised through the democratic process.
“It, therefore, strips the Governor of any power to unilaterally remove elected Local Government officials or interfere in its dealings without violating the constitution he swore to protect”, Justice Rhodes-Vivour had ruled.
