Dino sues Bello, others over LG polls

PDP members defecting are cowards — Ali Kano

Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West) has dragged the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, and others before the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja over alleged failure to conduct local government elections in the state. Dino, in the suit, was asking the Members of the PDP from across the country defecting to the ruling APC are cowards and are doing so in order to curry favours, a chieftain of the party, Alhaji Ali Kano, has said.

Ali Kano, a member of the 2015 PDP court to declare the composition of caretaker committees for the 21 local government areas of the state illegal, null and void.

Those joined as defendants in the suit included the Kogi State House of Assembly, the state’s Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs; the Local Government Service Commission and the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission.

Others were the Joint Local Government Accounts Allocation Committee, the 21 local government areas of the state, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Minister of Finance, the Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee and the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

The suit, supported by a 30-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Melaye, sought 13 reliefs

which included a declaration Presidential Campaign Council, told Daily Trust that members of the party who thought they would have a cover after defecting were simply dreaming. He predicted that history will beckon on them.

“They (defectors) are trying to destroy the foundation of our party. We that the governor, in pursuance of Section 56(1-6) of the Kogi State Local Government Law 2008, could not appoint local government transition committees or sole administrators for the local government areas.

He also prayed the court to declare that the governor, in line with Section 1(3) and Section 7(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: “Cannot exercise its power in such a manner as to have delayed, refused or neglect to conduct local government elections for the purposes of constituting the various local government councils.”

The lawmaker, besides other issues relating to finance, also asked for a declaration restraining the governor, the House of Assembly, among others, from constituting or appointing any person as caretaker administrator or sole administrator. are not fools; those that decamped may make a U-turn one day and history will beckon on them,” he said.

“Besides, Nigeria’s democracy will never grow when people lack the discipline and political ideology to stick to their political commitment,” he said.