Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo on Friday in Owerri appealed to the re-instated 27 local government chairmen in the state to come for a dialogue with him.
?Okorocha made the appeal after the council chairmen, who were recently re-instated by the Appeal Court, turned down his earlier invitation for a meeting scheduled for Friday.
?The governor, who is a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on assumption of office last year, sacked the chairmen who were elected on the platform of PDP.
He appealed to them to meet with him on Monday on how to move the state forward and not on which party was controlling the local governments.
“I have reasons for dissolving the councils, but this is not time to argue on who is right or wrong; I am a product of justice and I will abide by the rule of law.
“Let me call on my brothers to embrace peace, commence work and serve out their tenure so that we can have another local government election in the state.
“I appeal to them to report to this council chambers on Monday for dialogue and let those pushing my children from behind leave them alone.”
Okorocha noted that the judiciary had played important roles in sustaining the country’s democracy.
According to him, the re-instated councils would partner with the state government to recover billions of Naira which has disappeared in the past through local government administration.
It will be recalled that the governor appointed transition committee chairmen to take over the councils after sacking the elected chairmen in June last year.
?The sacked officials challenged the governor in a High Court in Owerri which upheld Okorocha’s action.
The chairmen later proceeded to Appeal Court which re-instated them on July 5.
They were, however, prevented from having access into their offices until the intervention of security agents.
The state government appealed against the judgement at the Supreme Court and filed a motion for stay of execution of the appeal court judgement.