By Patrick Ochei
The Executive Chairman of Ndokwa East Local Government, Hon. Amechee Juan Governor has come under fire for allegedly slapping a member of the Legislative Arm and Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation of the Council, Hon. Louis Ogene.
Our source revealed that trouble started at the Council after the Councillor, Ogene was dramatically suspended by the Leader, Hon. Jude Isicheli during plenary on Tuesday, 15th March, 2022.
Based on the information at our disposal, our Correspondent sought to investigate the bone of contention which led to slapping a duly elected member of the Legislative Arm by calling the Councillor.
Narrating his ordeal via telephone conversation, Hon. Ogene gave a chronological presentation of how the trouble started.
According to him, “Our offence has been demanding for the income and expenditure of the Council, which eventually the Treasurer to the Local Government was directed to present to the House.
“We were taking aback that the TLG came to present the financial records of the Council without copies of the financial document for Councillors to peruse and make their inputs.
“To this effect a motion was moved by a colleague for copies to be made available, but the Leader pleaded for us to allow the TLG continue with the presentation, promising to make copies after. We allowed him in the interest of peace.
“At the end of his presentation, the TLG dropped the only copy from which he read by the Mace. The Leader collected that particular copy and promised to duplicate later for us to go through and make our input, which he never fulfilled despite several weeks of promptings by the Councillors.
“Just during last week’s plenary, precisely on Tuesday 8th March, 2022, the matter came up again. As the Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, I demanded for copies. How can the TLG present income and expenditure of the Council without copies of the report. Meanwhile, nobody had idea of what he presented which was believed not to be in tandem with the actual financial dealings of the Council, and even the Leader that promised to make copies available to us kept playing politics with it. That was the bone of contention.
“As a result of this, that last week Tuesday, the Majority Leader was suspended through a motion by a member. Before you knew it, another member seconded the motion. Some of us raised our hands to move a counter motion but were never recognised. The Leader refused to give room for counter motions and went ahead to suspend the Majority Leader, Hon. Friday Edemenya.
“Just yesterday here, another sitting was fixed. We came with the mind to beg for the Majority Leader’s reinstatement, no matter what the Leader felt was the issue. I and my colleagues, 13 of us on one page came to beg so we can move on peacefully.
“I didn’t know I would be used as scapegoat for moving a counter motion at previous plenary. While at the meeting, a Councillor just moved a motion to suspend me for insulting him outside the Chambers after trying to move a counter motion. It was so dramatic, the 13 members on our side refused for such motion to scale through but the Leader recognised a seconder and it was upheld, thereby suspending me.
“While I was begging him not to allow this kind of autocracy prevail, he ordered the Sergeant-At-Arms to chase me out of the Chambers. The man didn’t want to do that because we are from the same place. The next thing some thugs rushed in and started dragging me out. My suit was torn, I was totally humiliated.
“While at it, the news had gone round the town, and some people from inside town came down to the Council to protest against the injustice. The next thing was the Chairman who came to me and slapped me without even the courtesy of asking me what happened. He slapped me and I couldn’t do anything, even his thugs were everywhere. That was when it dawned on me and majority of us Councillors that the Leader of the Legislative Arm had been acting out the Chairman’s script all along.
“So, in that pity state, I went to incident the matter at the Aboh Police Station.
“However, while the atmosphere was still tensed at the Council, the Leader called for the replacement of the Majority Leader against all reasonable advice.
“During the election with 13 members voting, one Hon. Emmanuel Uti won with 9 votes to defeat one Hon. Columbus Osakwe who scored 5 votes.
“However, rather than declare Hon. Uti as winner, the Leader declined the election and refused to declare him winner because he wanted Hon. Columbus as choice. He therefore cancelled the election and then adjourned plenary to another sitting date. We were surprised to later read in the social media that Hon. Columbus had been sworn-in as Majority Leader. Our inquiry indicated that as soon as everybody left, the Chairman instructed the Clerk of the House, Mr. Jude Ajusa to swear-in Hon. Columbus, the one who lost in that election”, Hon. Louis Ogene narrated.
In a bid to get all sides to the story, our Correspondent called the Council Chairman, Hon. Juan Governor who rather than give his own side of the story, said he had no comment to make and dropped the call on the journalist.
The same mannerism played out with the Leader, Hon. Jude Isicheli who equally dropped the call, saying he does not know what the investigator was talking about.
Further investigation on the situation at the Council revealed that the Chairman is notoriously arrogant and violent in nature.
The sources alleged that he once fired gun shots with his thugs to chase Councillors away at the Council Secretariat just at the least provocation sometime last year; and in the same year he masterminded the impeachment of the first Leader of the Legislative Arm under his administration in order to bring in Hon. Isicheli, his partner in violence as Leader.
Vowed not to allow this Executive Rascality go on unchecked, the 13 Councillors who are opposed to the Chairman’s undisciplined way of leadership have allegedly petitioned the Delta State House of Assembly on what is going on in Ndokwa East Council, and at the same time, poised to challenge the charade of a kangaroo inauguration of an unwanted Majority Leader in the person of Hon. Columbus Osakwe.