Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has on Thursday,
October 8, sacked 22 caretaker committee chairmen out of
the 23 local government areas of the state.
In a statement at the Rivers state government house signed
by Opunabo Inko Tariah, the senior special adviser on media
and publicity to the governor, Wike said : “The dissolution is
with immediate effect. The twenty two caretaker committees
are to handover to the various heads of local government administration.”
The fired caretaker committee chairmen had spent the
statutory three months allowed in office by the constitution
and the state government law. The three-month tenure of
the chairmen expires today.
He said: “The statutory three months tenure for Caretaker
committees expires today.”
Wike had in the night of Thursday, July 9, sworn in the 22
caretaker committee chairmen to replace the elected council
executives of the All Progressives Congress who were
dissolved by a federal high court ruling delivered by Justice
Lambo Akanbi.
The governor said then that he had vowed to respect the
rule of law when he assumed office on May 29 stressing
that it was the reason why he did not dissolve the APC led
councils which he said was illegally put in place by the
Rotimi Amaechi-led government.
He noted that some state governors who inherited local
government councils dissolved them immediately they came
on board but he had to take time to allow due process to
prevail.
However, it was not specified when a new caretaker
committees would be constituted and sworn in to avoid any
vacuum in government.
The 22 All Progressives Congress local government
chairmen who were previously sacked by the court had
taken their case to the industrial court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa
state capital.
They had challenged the legality of their sack having been
elected on the platform the APC.
