In the aftermath of the dec­laration of the suspension of all 18 Local Government Council Chairmen in Edo State by the Edo State House of Assembly, and the ex-parte order that has been given by a Benin High Court, and comments by Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Chairman of Administrative Panel of Inquiry on the Suspended Local Government Chairmen and Vice Chairmen, Solomon Imohiosen, has defended the action of Governor Monday Okpebholo and the State House of Assembly.

Imohiosen, who made the position of his committee known in a statement, said: “The attention of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry on the suspended Local Government Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of Edo State has been drawn to a particular ex-parte order flying on the social media.

“It is therefore imperative for the information of the general public to set the records straight.

“First, the resolution of the Edo State House Assembly on the subject matter was made on December 17, 2024.

“Upon receipt of the resolution that same day, the governor of Edo State, in line with the provisions of Section 20(2) of the Edo State Local Government Law 2000, constituted our Administrative Panel of Inquiry and inaugurated our panel in Government House at about 4.pm on Decem­ber 17, 2024.

“Second, at 5.pm on December 17, 2024, we had our inaugu­ral sitting wherein we made the house-keeping rules of our panel of inquiry and laid out our work plan..

“The following day, which was December 18, 2024, we met with the Leaders of the Legisla­tive Arm/Acting Chairmen and Heads of Local Government Administration of the 18 Local Gov­ernment Councils of Edo State. Letters in respect of the list of documents to be produced were issued to them.

“Third, we were shocked to see the aforesaid ex-parte order on the social media, which was procured for the plaintiffs by one Oluwole Osaze Uzzi, who was a Defendant/Counsel in a similar case before the same Edo State High Court.

“This brazen act of unethical professional conduct will be reported to the appropriate authority in due course.

“Fourth, the law is settled that an injunctive order, albeit ex-parte, cannot be issued against an already completed act. We will not by any means join issues with an inchoate order wherein we and the House of Assembly, which made the resolution were not joined as parties.”

The chairman added that plans were in place to invite the suspended council bosses for interrogation.

Meanwhile, Prince Kassim Afegbua, a member of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry, has picked holes in the averment of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of justice, Chief Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, on the two-month suspension of the local government chairmen and their deputies by the State House of Assembly.

Prince Afegbua, in an open letter to the AGF, Chief Fagbemi, stated that he was not satisfied by the hasty manner in which the AGF issued a fiat without considering the implications of the law.

According to Afegbua, “I read the Attorney General of the Federation’s elocution about the suspension of the Local Government Chairmen in Edo State, in line with the relevant provisions of the Edo State Local Govern­ment Law 2000.

“I picked holes in the hasty manner the AGF issued a fiat without considering the impli­cations of the law.

“The Judgment of the Su­preme Court of Nigeria on autonomy of the Local Government, particularly financial autonomy, does not expressly cede the powers of the Houses of Assembly to the Local Government and that of the Legislative house.

“There are existing Laws for Local Government Administra­tion across the country enacted by the State Houses of Assembly, whose powers to make such Laws derive from the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”