Crisis Looms As Anambra Councillors Set To Protest Seizure of Entitlements

By Jude Atupulazi

The relationship between elected councillors in Anambra State and the Gov Governor Willie Obiano-led executive looks set to explode as councillors in the state plan a massive protest march against the government for withholding their statutory entitlements, Fides communication reports.

Their insistence on going ahead with their protest comes on the heels of last week's intervention by the leadership of the body of councillors in the state which led to a last minute shelving of their planned protest previously scheduled for last Tuesday.
 


According to Fides, the leadership of the councillors under the aegis of Anambra State Councillors Forum, ASCOF, led by Hon Anayo Okpalaeke, had to quickly convene a meeting of the executive, last Monday, July 18, and reached out to the aggrieved councillors, pleading with them to exercise patience and allow the leadership to dialogue with the governor. 

Fides gathered that the councillors who reluctantly agreed to stay action on condition that government acted promptly, are still bent on going ahead with the protest. Speaking with Fides, ASCOF chairman, Okpalaeke, said he was aware of the grievances of the councillors but however, believed that dialogue was the key. 

According to him, it was possible that the governor was unaware of the matter which was why there was need to parley with him. 'Obiano has a human face and will not want his foot soldiers to be suffering, especially when the people concerned are very important to the party and government. But the councillors should exercise restraint as the governor has been contacted and is looking into their matter which he has taken as priority,' Okpalaeke stated. 

But the aggrieved councillors, whose spokesman spoke to Fides on condition of anonymity, expressed doubt over the assurances by their leader, citing previous meetings with the government which yielded no fruit. According to him, the plight of councillors in Anambra was too poor and embarrassing. He accused the state government of sitting on their statutory entitlements, while giving everything to political appointees many of whom were not known in their wards. 'The councillors remain the governor's best bet for winning a second term in office. 

We are the grassroots and the grassroots are us. Many of us worked hard for the party, staking our time, energy and money, only to be treated like beggars. 'The worst thing is that the government has made us unelectable by the denial of what is our statutory right. This is why we have not been able to do anything in the two years we spent. Our people are suffering because democracy dividend which should have gone to the people through us has not come,' the spokesman said. 


To this end, he said his group had vowed to press home their demand through any means, including taking a legal action against the government. 'We have no option than to seek any means available to take back what belongs to us. We don't trust anyone again; not even our chairmen who are always feathering their own nest. They have been settled and therefore do not care what happens to us,' he further said; even expressing doubt over the sincerity of ASCOF.


Documents made available to Fides and which had gone viral on the internet and social media, stated the grievances of the councillors to include as follows: Lack of developmental projects at various wards of the State; withholding of ward consistency projects at ward levels which has given them bad political image, despite the continued receipt of Monthly Federal Allocation through the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission; and non-payment of councillors' lawful entitlements as enshrined in the Anambra State Public Officers' Salaries Law (ANHA/ LAW/2007/10) which was enacted by Anambra State House of Assembly and took effect from 1/07/2007. 

The councillors also alleged that their basic salary of N79, 174.00 was reduced to N35, 400.00, leaving a balance of N43, 774.00 monthly which had been unpaid for 2 years. The document stated that allowances as provided for in the above law were a. Accommodation allowance = 100% ABS b. Vehicle loan allowance = 400% ABS c. Furniture Allowance d. Utility Allowance e. Vehicle Maintenance Allowance f. Entertainment Allowance g. House Maintenance Allowance h. Newspaper allowance - i. Severance/Gratuity. 

They claimed that at the inception of the councillors' two years' term, at a meeting with the governor, the then commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Hon Mrs Azuka Enemuo, and former Political Adviser to the Governor, Chief Joe Martins Uzodike, the governor personally acknowledged and promised to pay the councillors all their statutory allowances, plus car loans. 


Unfortunately till date, according to the aggrieved councillors, the state government only approved N280, 000.00 for furniture allowance but only paid N140, 000.00. They contended that although N280, 000.00 was over 80% less than the lawfully approved furniture allowance for councillors, the state government still refused to pay it completely. 

The councillors further stated that the two year term of local government councillors in Anambra State was run without duly prepared and approved budgets. 'Close to the expiration of the elected councillors' term in January 2016, between 25th and 26th of January 2016, all legislative councils in Anambra State were presented with state prepared budgets for 2014 and 2015 and were mandated to approve and pass them into laws as working document for their various councils for the two years gone by.

It was with the threat that any councillor or local government legislative council that failed to approve and pass the state government's prepared budgets for their council would be denied both their last month's salary as elected councillor and other entitlements.

The state government went further and promised the councillors N50, 000.00 each. The order on budget passage was given by two government officials.

All these led to the passage of the budgets under duress even though none of the projects captured in the said budget were ever executed anywhere in their wards and local government,' the councillors' spokesman stated. He further accused the local government council chairmen in Anambra State of continually sabotaging the local government councils by monthly signing unexecuted projects for the state government after being paid kick-backs. 

This is even as they alleged that the chairmen were paid N7m car allowance in lieu whereas the councillors elected with them got nothing. They described as very disheartening, the fact that in the two years of the councillors, local governments in Anambra State alone, received over N34.6 bn directly from federal allocation but with the councils seeing little of it. 'This is even when all Governor's SSAs and SAs numbering over 600, have had all their allowances paid, even as appointed officers, while elected officers at local government level have not been paid two years after assumption of office.

Even as the state government complains of short fall in funds, it has continued to appoint new aids into the government, with their entitlements and salaries all being fully paid on assumption of office. 

The most recent are the appointments into the State Petroleum Committee which has a lot of female undergraduates of Unizik as members,' the councillors alleged in their document. 

As a result of these developments, Fides learnt, the councillors are poised to embark on a public awareness protest to clear themselves of involvement in what they termed shabby budget approval and financial recklessness in the Local Government Administration of Anambra State. They said this was necessary in order to avoid the long arms of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC. 

Thus, despite the pleas of ASCOF, the councillors are pushing to spill the beans and let the world know their plight, as well as to demand the payment of their entitlements. As at press time, Fides understood that the state government was deliberating on the councillors' matter, with the aggrieved grassroots lawmakers waiting to pounce. 


Source: Fides Communication