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Niger LGS Election: Paikoro LGA chairman refuses to swear in APGA Councillorship 8 months after win
Olabode Adaramola Minna
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Councillorship candidate, Shuaibu Sani who was declared winner of the last local governments election in the state, is yet to be sworn in, NationalWire leant Tuesday.
The APGA candidate allegedly won the election into Kwakuti ward of Paikoro local government of the state and was said to have been dully issued with the certificate of return with serial Number 000100 dated January 18, 2016 by the Niger State Independent Electoral Commission(NSIEC) but the council Chairman, Mr. John Maikarfi was accused of going ahead to swear in the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the election instead.
And apparently disturbed by the development, the APGA leadership in Niger state, has written a petition to the state House of Assembly urging them to intervene in the matter.
The House, in its sitting on March 2nd, 2016 mandated its committees on Judicial matters, community development and chieftaincy affairs to investigate the case.
The committee in its report to the house, confirmed that the APGA candidate was the actual winner of the said election and that the State SIEC dully issued certificate of return to the winner.
The committee said the chairman of Paikoro LGA erred for not swearing in the winner in the first place. It therefore urged the House to compel the chairman to comply with the provision of the law by swearing the APGA candidate without further delay as the duly elected candidate of the ward.
GmailAlso, the House in a letter to Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, dated May 5th, 2016 and signed by the Deputy Speaker, Hussaini Ibrahim urged the governor to direct the affected council chairman to swear in the APGA candidate, adding that the chairman should be suspended from office for three months, while the illegally sworn councilor should be made to refund all salaries and allowances paid to him.
It also suggested that the APGA candidate who won the election should be made to enjoy all salaries and allowances from the period his colleagues were sworn into office.
NationalWire however gathered that barely four months after the House’s resolution on the matter, the status quo still remains.
