The Uvwie LG Legislative House have petitioned the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki just as it accused Delta House of Assembly of usurpation of their powers. Below is the full text of the petition signed by their lawyers, Charles Umweni & Co
10th August, 2015
The Senate President,
Senate Chambers,
National Assembly,
Three Arms Zone,
Abuja.
ILLEGAL INCURSIONS AND USURPATION OF POWERS OF UVWIE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
COUNCIL BY DELTA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY AND GOVERNMENT
We have been briefed and our professional services retained by the
accredited leaders of Uvwie Local Government Legislative House and
elected Councilors (hereafter referred to as our clients), on whose
behalf we present this petition.
Our clients on being inaugurated in November, 2014 set out to carry
out their Legislative duties within the legal compass allowed them by
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and the
Delta State Local Government Law. A duty they were carrying out to
improve their environment and the welfare of all persons within the
Local Government Council Area.
Our clients, in all they have done, have not been found to have done
anything outside the powers vested in them by law, but strangely, the
Delta State House of Assembly would not allow them to do their work as
dictated by their judgment and perception of imperatives. When it
became obvious that they could not be stopped from doing their
legitimate work or submitting to the dictates of the State Government,
the Delta State House of Assembly resorted to underhand tactics and
brazen display of might to scuttle their proceeding and intimidating
the elected Chairman of the Local Government Council.
The Uvwie Local Government Council Legislators in one of their plenary
session suspended five (5) Councilors who disrupted proceeding for
their unrepentant disruptive posture, which they were warned to eschew
in the past.
Though the decision of the leadership of the Council Legislature
enjoyed overwhelming support of majority of Councilors and was
warranted and justified, the Delta State House of Assembly, rather
than look into the reasons for the suspension and mediate, issued an
order on the Councilors and directed our clients to comply with their
order or, the Uvwie Council Legislature would be dissolved. In fact,
some members of the Delta State House of Assembly gave directives to
civil servants serving in Uvwie Council, countermanding our clients’
decision.
When the Delta State House of Assembly was not finding it easy
arm-twisting our clients, they transferred their anger on the elected
Chairman of Uvwie Local Government Council, whom they placed on ultra
vires suspension without justification and in violation of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as well as the Delta
State Local Government Law which did not invest them with such powers.
Our client cannot fathom any reasons for this uncanny display of
barbaric force by the Delta State Government, other than the facts
that they are perceived as having not supported or voted for the State
Governor during the general elections. To compensate their loyalists
who voted for them during the elections, the State Government at the
behest of the State Governor, armed their loyalist with the active
connivance of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of
Operations in Delta State, and led a team of Mobile Policemen to chase
away agents of the Council lawfully engaged by the Council to collect
revenues on her behalf from the Motor Parks in Uvwie. These
supplanters were provided security by the Police as they were engaged
in illegal collections of Council tolls from motorists operating in
the parks for couple of days, until a superior directive came
withdrawing the police before the Council agents resumed collection of
tolls on behalf of the Council.
It has never been in dispute that the Motor Parks are exclusively
under the Council’s purview by virtue of the clear provisions of the
1999 Constitution, yet Delta State Government unashamedly caused
mayhem to be unleashed on Uvwie Local Government Area by the invasion,
which occasioned resistance from the lawful agents whom they violently
overthrew, thus, making innocent residents to suffer various forms of
deprivations which are yet to be addressed by the State Government.
Curiously, this violence provoked and orchestrated by the State
Government and her hirelings, is the reason given for the ultra vires
suspension of the Local Government Council Chairman, whom the
Councilors had earlier taken to task for also intrusively directing
that the five (5) suspended Councilors be allowed to resume in
disregard of the offence committed by them.
This unprecedented show of power in a democratic environment where the
exercise of power ought to be in consonance with the prescriptions of
the Constitution, must not be condoned; otherwise, it will be an
invitation to anarchy and many untoward things that could happen from
within and outside the Local Government Area, to desecrate and disrupt
our fledgling democracy. The senate would not be acting ultra vires if
the serial violations of extant laws and our sacred Constitution is
investigated and appropriate recommendations made on this subject
matters. Members of the Public expect no less from the Senate of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria on this scandalous and touchy incident.
Yours Faithfully,
Pp: Charles Umweni & Co
