By Tajudeen Adebanjo
A commissioner with the Lagos State Local Government Service Commission, Hakeem Bamgbola, has called on councillors to follow the due process before impeaching their chairmen .
According to him, the impeachments declared so far by various legislative arms of councils were illegal.
Legislators in Onigbongbo, Ikosi-Isheri, Isolo and Surulere councils are at loggerheads with their chairmen. They had declared their chairmen impeached.
Bamgbola, who is a former Secretary-General of Conference of 57 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas (Conference 57), said the procedure for impeaching a council chairman was similar to that of a governor.
“If the legislators discovered any breach or breaches of the law, they will first write the chairman through the secretary to the council and give him 14 days to respond. If they are not satisfied with his response and consider the impeachment option, they will write to the chief judge of the state to set up a panel that will look into the allegation(s). If the panel exonerates the chairman of wrongdoing, that is the end of the process, but if the panel finds the chairman guilty, then, the legislators can go ahead with the impeachment process,” he said.
According to him, none of the aforementioned councils’ legislators followed these processes.
This, he said, made their actions null and void.
Bamgbola, however, backed councillors’ rights to demand contractual agreement for the projects executed by the executive and other spendings.
He urged the chairmen and councillors to always find amicable way of settling their misunderstanding.
He also enjoined party leaders to use the internal resolution mechanism to resolve conflicts that could lead to impeachment.
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