Plateau Assembly Divided Over Tenure Elongation Of Council Chairmen

Hon. Ayuba Abok

Hon Peter Gyenden, the Minority Leader of Plateau State House of Assembly, has taken the Speaker of the House, Hon Ayuba Abok, to task over the extension of tenures for management committee chairmen of Jos North, Jos South, Riyom and Barkinladi local govern­ment councils of the state without consulting with the opposition members of the Assembly.

According to a reports by Daily Independent; the reports gathered that the opposition state legislators had no input on the decision that gave the affected chairmen extension of three months to their tenures as manage­ment committee chairmen in their respective council areas.

Gyenden said in a state­ment in Jos at the week­end that he had no knowl­edge of any meeting that was held at the House plenary where issues of extension of tenure for four local governments in the state were table and discussed.

When contacted, the Minority Leader, Hon Pe­ter Gyenden, representing Barkinladi Constituency, dissociated himself from tenure elongation for the four affected management committee chairmen.

According to him, the tenures of the management committee chairmen in the affected local government areas of the state were un­democratic.

He said he was only aware of the provisions of the constitution that em­powers them to supervise the activities of the local government councils, but not given powers to suspend or remove any local govern­ment chairman from office in the state.