THE Plateau State Government might have begun moves to conduct the council polls in the 17 local councils in the state. An indication to this effect emerged when the chairmen of the 17 local government councils in the state were directed to vacate their offices on Friday, January 20. And in their place, the government is making plans to appoint caretaker committees. The last council election was conducted in 2008.In the meantime, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in a memorandum directed all the chairmen to handover to the Directors of Personnel Management in their respective councils.According to a source in the Government House, the names of nine members from each council have been submitted to the Plateau State House of Assembly for ratification.The tenure of the caretaker will run between three and six months. The caretaker committee for each council will comprise the chairman, secretary and seven supervisory councilors.Following the crises that rocked the state during the 2008 council polls, the council chairmen were sworn in on January 20, 2009. And the memorandum by the SSG is interpreted as a recognition of the expiration of the tenure on this Friday. After the 2008 council polls, four local governments that came to power following their victory in the court after they challenged the decision of the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) that they did not win the elections. However, with the present development, the four councils will also be affected by the dissolution.The four councils, whose tenure would have extended to different months in 2013 and 2014, are Bokkos, Langtang North, Langtang South and Wase. The chairman of Wase would have completed his tenure in 2014 especially Wase chairman after he was sworn in last year.Another reason that has made the dissolution imperative was the fact that the Plateau State Local Government Law, which brought the chairmen to office, has been repealed, while a new law was signed into law towards the end of last year. The government source said that the next council polls would be conducted under the new law.According to the source, the state governor, Jonah Jang would have preferred to use the Directors of Personnel Managements but the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other stakeholders insisted on the institution of the caretaker committees. The source noted that the PDP chieftains were already banking on the appointments as compensation after the election of Jang.Also, with the dissolution of the councils, the governor had pulled the carpet from under the feet of the chairmen who had thought they would remain in office until the local government elections to enable them use their incumbency power to make way for their successors.The state PDP had also argued, according to the source, that the congresses of the party, which were earlier suspended because of the strike and protest that trailed the fuel subsidy would soon be conducted. It was argued that the Directors of Personnel Management wont be able to sustain the congresses and this ended the debate on the constitution of caretaker committees.Governor Jang, it was gathered, had given a directive that the concerned 17 council chairmen, their secretaries, councilors all be paid their entitlements so that the situation whereby they will come back to say that they are being owed by government will not arise.Confirming the dissolution of the councils, the Chairman of the State PDP, Dr. Haruna Dabin said that the fact that the chairmen of the 17 councils are going is necessary, adding that all the councils would be affected as the state government cannot appoint a sole administrator in each council. 'All of them are affected. They came to office on January 20, 2009, therefore, their tenure expires on January 20, 2012.
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