His Excellency,
President Mohammad Buhari GCFR
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Presidential Villa
Abuja, Nigeria.
Your Excellency,
An Urgent Request To Begin Prosecution Of All 774 LG Chairmen/Administrators.
Special greetings your Excellency, my name is Osigwe Omo-Ikirodah a bonafide Nigerian citizen from Edo State, the purpose of my writing you this open letter is to request an urgent prosecution of all the 774 Local government chairmen/ administrators across the 36 States of the Federation.
A fortnight ago you were a guest at Arise TV where you answered pertinent questions as regards the state of the Nation, during the eye-opening interview you made some accusations against the Local council chairmen and their respective State Governors.
You accused both the Governors and local councils as conspirators to shortchange the Nigerian populace by dipping their hands into the allocations of the councils to the detriment of poor Nigerians at the grassroots.
You regretted the way the Governors “catch” as much as 200 million into the allocations approved for local government councils with the council bosses feigning ignorance. It is regrettable your Excellency that since your revelation no single Governor or local government council chairman has refuted this damaging allegation.
If from what you say your Excellency is true then it is unfortunate that these local council chairmen who are closer to the people deserve nothing less than at least 7 years in jail.
There is an African proverb that says “na fence wey fall make goat fit climb am”, “dem say when person too tay for inside LATRINE e go begin see fly wey wear IRON shirt” Your Excellency the reason why Nigerians are daily throwing unprintable insults towards you are these greedy local council bosses.
Take my local government council, as an illustration, the Federal Government allocates 300million to Estako West local Government and the State Governor pockets 200 million and leaves the chairman with a hundred million.
Your Excellency, I swear to Jehovah in whom I serve, if this extra 200 million Naira you claim these Governors pocket just like that is free for projects in my local council then no single soul will shout Buhari must go. If the chairman uses 50 million monthly to attend to rural educational needs then in 10 months over 10 wards would have benefitted from the initiative.
If a further 50 million is used every month in rural medical services then in 10 months at least 10 wards would have benefitted from these projects, which would go a long way in curbing maternity deaths and unnecessary village sickness that kills our people like flies.
There is still a hundred million left to attend to so many other basic social amenities, but the governors think they are smart and keep a chunk of these allocations to themselves.
With the recent Supreme court order making Governors unable to remove elected council chairmen and their councillors then there should be no excuse for failure on the part of the council chairmen due to fear of the political might of these greedy Governors.
Your Excellency sir, I suggest these local council chairmen that have caused Nigerians so much grief and pains should be thrown into one prison, preferably Kirikiri maximum prison so Nigerians can visit Kirkiri as a tourist site for anti-corruption.
Sir do you know that these local government chairmen are the cause of the unpopularity you have in some quarters today? As a human right activist and journalist, I have covered at least ongoing projects by the Federal government in all 36 states of the federation, Sir ask my State Governor if he has a project ongoing in all the 18 local government council of Edo State, Sir please ask my Local Government Administrator how many projects are ongoing in at least 10 wards in his council.
From my layman understanding every month-end, you all comprising of the Federal Government, State Government and Local Government share this allocation between yourselves according to your agreed sharing formula.
So why if e b say the money don enter local government na another story don enter? How long are we going to remain in this dire situation? Your Excellency these same Governors many do not even respect you, they lament that you are the cause of the multiple problems bedevilling the Nation but yet they sit down in their government house and press calculator on their accrued revenue from the Federal allocation, internally generated revenue and now the illegal deductions from the Local Councils.
Your Excellency my views represent the opinions of millions of Nigerians, your prompt response to the subject raised in this open letter would go a long way in restoring peace and stability in our country.
We appeal to you today to show your leadership to the world and most importantly to your Nigerian citizens by sending all these political crooks to jail.
May God bless the rest of your administration with good health and sound wisdom I remain your loyal son, Osigwe Omo-Ikiroda.
