Worried that local government administration in the entire South Eastern States have not been run in compliance with constitutional prescription of democracy since 1999, a non-governmental organization (NGO), Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURRIWA) has upbraided the South East governors for undermining democracy and the rule of law at the grass roots level of governance.
?HURIWA particularly criticized the Abia state governor, Mr. Theodore Orji, for arbitrarily sacking local council executives last week following sporadic protests by the ordinary citizens in Aba during a pre-funeral event for the late statesman, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. It described the action of the Abia State Governor as illegal and a serious rape of the democratic tenets of free speech.
In a statement jointly endorsed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media Director, Miss. Zainab Yusuf, the rights group further supported the reported move by the National Assembly to amend relevant sections of the Nigerian Constitution to specifically compel the periodic conduct of democratic elections at the local council areas of the country.