Suspended council members say Adamawa governor ‘vindictive’

The suspension of the chairman and the entire council members of Gombi Local Government, Adamawa State, by the state government is “vindictive” according to some councillors.

Eight out of the ten councillors of the local government have accused Governor Bala Ngilari of being dictatorial and vindictive.

The councillors said the governor suspended them because they refused to do his bidding and remove the chairman of the local government.

The councillors include, Yohanna Jonathan (Yang Ward), Dominic Irmiya (Liva Ward), Sabo Inuwa (Gombi North), Samaila Umar (Duga Ward), Mohammed Abdallah (Gombi South), and Adama Saidu (Gaanda Ward).

The leader of the councillors, Mr. Jonathan, alleged that their suspension followed series of attempts by the governor to influence the removal of the chairman of the council, Rufai Umar.

Mr. Jonathan at a press conference on Tuesday said: “As far as we are concerned, the chairman of the council has done nothing to warrant removal from office as such we declined the offer.

“We don’t know how the decision to remove us was reached because due process was circumvented as we were never given a fair hearing. We remain unfazed by the unilateral action of the state government to suspend us as the decision went contrary to the rule of law.”

The suspended chairman of the local government, Mr. Umar, had earlier debunked allegations of fraud against his government on which premise the council was suspended. He said the allegation lacked substance and credibility.

“The audit committee did not meet to make enquiries only to come up with a fictitious report indicting me of unsubstantiated financial fraud,” he said.

“For the record, I ran the must transparent government among the 21 chairmen of Adamawa State. My suspension has nothing to do with any financial scam but my defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress and as far as I am concerned, the decision remains sacrosanct as it represent the wishes of my people.

“PDP is a spent force as it will lose the coming elections and many of the chairmen of the local governments have told me that they will defect to APC.”