Group Warns Outgoing FCT Council Chairmen Against Causing Confusion

A civil society organisation under the auspices of Advocacy For Good Governance and Transparency (AGGT) has warned the outgoing Area Council chairmen in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to stop heating the polity by causing confusion through unnecessary litigations on their tenure elongation.

The group, through its national coordinator, Comrade Donald Nwanchukwu, and national secretary, Comrade Hassan Dogo, at an emergency press briefing on Monday, further warned the people instigating the outgoing council chairmen to cause confusion, to be careful or will have themselves to blame.

The group expressed disappointment at the extent of what it called political greed and selfishness that the outgoing chairmen were exhibiting by sitting down in their comfort zones to cause confusion in the FCT, not minding the plight of the people and elected incoming chairmen.

“To the extent of wanting to deceive the public by lying that they have obtained an appeal last week Friday, they should know that the judiciary is a well-organized institution. No selfish individual or group of people should think that they can manipulate our judicial system. The recent judgment that set aside the tenure elongation in the FCT and ordered the FCT Minister to swear in the Chairmen elect is very clear. It described the tenure elongation judgment as erroneously entered without jurisdiction due to misinterpretation of facts and was set aside in its entirety.

“So what is the desperation of some set of people by moving around with fake appeal rumour and where and which court did they obtained any appeal, whereby its obvious that the judgment did not give any room for any appeal? It is very clear. That the evil agenda of this set of people should be arrested by the security agencies because they are now the enemies of the FCT Minister and the entire administration,” they said.

The group also appealed to the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammed Musa Bello, not to succumb to any intimidation from selfish politicians and lawyers who were bent on causing crisis in the Territory not minding the pains it will cause to innocent citizens of the FCT.

“We are calling on the Minister to go ahead and swear in the elected chairmen and their councillors as planned for Tuesday, June 14. The administration has been at a standstill for too long because of the selfish outgoing council chairmen who do not want to leave office after their tenure ended on May 19, 2022.

“The minister should know that these outgoing chairmen do not mean well for his administration, that is why they are doing everything possible to frustrate it through different court injunctions and cases. The Minister should prove that he is not a push-around by ignoring any injunction against the swearing-in of the elected chairmen and their councillors.

“We are also using this opportunity to want the outgoing chairmen to stop this confusion they are causing in the FCT and allow peace to reign, and not do anything to tamper with the incoming council administrations. If they continue, we will no longer hold our peace.

“We will mobilize all the youths in the FCT that have interest in the incoming administrations and make sure that they do not have peace where ever they are. Because there is a saying that, ‘A child that will not allow his mother to sleep, that child will not sleep,’ enough is enough,” they added.

The group called on FCT residents not to relent in their support for the FCT Administration, adding that the FCT Minister will do the right thing and not allow himself to be pushed around by selfish politicians.

“We will no longer sit down and watch anybody or selfish politicians continue to cause confusion in the territory. This is not a threat, if anything happens contrary to the planned swearing-in of the new councils’ administrations on Tuesday, then the FCT will be too hot for anybody to stay,” the group stated.