Yobe stakeholders, residents disown current council chairmen, Urges Buni to replace them.

Yobe stakeholders, residents disown current council chairmen, Urges Buni to replace them.

By: Yahaya Wakili

Stakeholders and the residents of the 17 local government areas of Yobe State have appealed to Governor Mai Mala Buni to rescue the local government councils from the hands of unpatriotic chairmen by not allowing them to contest the November 25 local government poll.

This is the following announcement by the Yobe State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) on the date fixed for the council elections scheduled for November 25, 2023.

Some stakeholders of the ruling party in the state, the APC, and other members of the party express their dissatisfaction with the way and manner in which the present chairmen’s caretaker management committee runs the affairs of the councils in the state.

They explained that the present chairmen and their councillors have spent over three years in office now, and there has been no development within the period despite the huge amount that the government has given them.

Some of them are not staying in office, and they are always telling their people that they will not stay because they are friends with Governor Mai Mala Buni. Therefore, some stakeholders of the party request that the governor allow the people to elect the candidate of their choice, the potential person who will stay in office and work for them.

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A resident of Potiskum who doesn’t want to mention his name said their own chairman is the worst because he is always away: “He is not in office as I am talking to you now; he is not in the state; and since he became the chairman of Potiskum local government three years ago, he hasn’t spent one week in office.”

He said, “The chairman is always telling people that he is a friend of the governor and he will do whatever he likes. This is too open; everyone living in Potiskum knows it. Potiskum local government is the largest town in Yobe and is the center of commercial business, and despite the revenue the local government is generating every week, if rain falls, almost all streets are overflowed as a result of no drainage.”

This is almost the same story in the other local government areas in the state.

Another, who identified himself as Ibrahim Bade, said we are in a democratic era. He appealed to Governor Mai Mala Buni, a progressive governor who is always behind the development of Yobe State, to stop the current chairmen from contesting in the coming local government elections.

Also, some residents of Fika local government revealed that their chairperson, Hajiya Halima Kyari Joda, is permanently staying in Damaturu; she is not coming to office, and everyone is afraid of telling her the truth because she is saying she is too close to Governor Mai Mala Buni. So she will do whatever she likes, and she always says that she will not step down as chairperson of Fika local government.

The stakeholders, therefore, appeal to Governor Mai Mala Buni to rescue them from the dictatorship of Kyari Joda.

The present chairmen were elected for 16 months, and after their terms expired, they renewed them for 6 months. After it expired, they renewed them for six months, and after the expiration of the six months, the governor also renewed them for another six months, which made the chairmen see their positions as a birthright, and as such, they felt above the citizens because of the claim that they were close to the governor.

Yobe stakeholders, residents disown current council chairmen, Urges Buni to replace them.