By Mark Lenu
Some residents of Rivers State have scored the performance of the recently sacked Local Government Chairmen and Councillors low, saying that no meaningful governance was brought to the LGAs of the state.
All the chairmen and councillors who were elected on October 5, 2024, were on Friday kicked out of office by the Supreme Court as the apex court declared the election that brought the LG chairmen and councillors illegal.
A cross section of the state residents who spoke with our correspondent across various LGAs of the state said the sacked LG chairmen and councillors were not prepared for governance, adding that they were hand-picked by Governor Siminalayi Fubara through a selection process, not an election.
Meanwhile, the governor had, via a state broadcast, accepted the judgment of the Supreme Court as he had directed the affected council chairmen and councillors to vacate their offices and hand over power to their respective heads of local government administration.
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The people of the state said: “The sacked chairmen and councillors came into office through an election process marred by obvious rigging. There were no valid election result sheets at the polling units during the election.
“The results of the election were written elsewhere to ensure that only candidates from the preferred party (APP) of the governor emerge winners. Not having conventional security agents like the police on the ground to participate in the election helped mar the election with widespread irregularities.
“These sacked LG chairmen and councillors came into office without a proper campaign and manifesto, hence could not deliver the dividends of democracy to their people.
“From security to welfare, we will score them zero because they did not mean well for their respective LGAs. Some only paid electricity bills within the first two months of their assumption of office and have allowed their respective LGAs to be blacked out to date.
“The governor should be careful next time not to support candidates for elective seats who have nothing to offer their people. We wish the sacked chairmen and councillors farewell and urge them never to recontest next poll.”
