Posted by The Federal High Court’s decision to invalidate the election that put them in power was appealed, according to the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, or ALGON, which announced it at the weekend.
Ogodo Ali Nomeh, the chairman of ALGON’s Ebonyi State chapter, revealed this to reporters immediately after Governor David Umahi had commissioned a project.
He claimed that no one could block the allocation of resources, functions, or activities of the state’s administration.
Remember that in a recent ruling, Justice Riman of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, declared the election that elected the council chairmen invalid because it was undemocratic and illegal.
Justice Riman similarly prohibited the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission RMAFC, and other commissions from issuing allocations to local government regions in the state.
However, Ogodo Ali, the council chairman of Ezza North Local Government Area in Ebonyi State, asserted, “You know that we were brought into power by legislation, formed by the state House of Assembly, that is in conformity with the federal government law. The Federal High Court can say anything they want.
We didn’t fly to that office because that statute governs the roles and pursuits of municipal governments. As you are aware, someone attempted to have our election stopped in court before it was approved by another High Court in Izziamgbo.
“The election that put us in power was held under that presumption. You may recall that before to this ruling, the same court attempted to invalidate the election, but a different court with coordinate jurisdiction ruled that it was lawful, and as a result, we were sworn in,” he said.
Speaking on the alleged Federal High Court warning and directive to the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, to halt the allocation to Ebonyi local government areas, Ogodo said: “Allocation is not issued by the Court. It is therefore a constitutional issue.
“It is challenging for anyone to stop the operations and operations of the state government, as well as those of the local government regions. It’s possible that the person wishes to stop the allocation because of something in the back of his mind.
“You know, the perpetrators aren’t even Ebony people. And so, some people want to deter us from doing our job but we are already in Appeal Court” he stressed.