By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja
A Human Rights Activist and Executive Director, Conscience for Human Rights And Conflict Resolution (CHRCR) Mr Idris Miliki Abdul,has called for the immediate dissolution of Local Government Caretaker Committees in the 21 Councils of the State.
Miliki made the call on Tuesday in Lokoja shortly after the announcement by Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) of its resolve to hold Local Government elections on October 19.
Miliki held that with the announcement and release of timetable and guideline for the Council elections, the state government should dissolve the caretaker committees without further delay and direct the Directors of Local Government in the various Councils to take charge.
Miliki said that with the recent declaration by SIEC, “The illegal caretaker chairmen put in place on the 5th July, 2024 by Kogi State House of Assembly for Six (6) months can no longer stand.
“Many of these illegal chairmen maybe willing to contest for the same elections through their political party, which will bring contradiction and further promote illegality by giving them unnecessary advantage.
“We call on the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Usman Ododo, to immediately remove this illegal caretakers and replace them with the Directors of Local Government across the State, that will be there for the next three(3) months.
This, in itself, is legal and that is what should have been done in the first place rather than this illegal caretakership, as was pronounced by the famous judgment of the Supreme Court on the 11th July, 2024.
“We call on the Kogi State Governor and his government, to quickly make resources available for SIEC, to enable it conduct credible, free, fair and acceptable elections on the 19th October, 2024 as contained the just release timetables”, Miliki urged. (Ends)