Sacked Imo Council Chairmen Get Court’s Nod

Nnamdi Felix / Abuja

Embattled chairmen of 27 local government councils in Imo state, South Eastern Nigeria, who were recently sacked by Governor Rochas Okorocha, on Wednesday secured a leave from a Federal High Court siting in Abuja to apply for a judicial review of the governor’s action.

The leave granted by Justice Gladys Olotu empowers the ousted council chairmen to apply for a judicial review of the dissolution of the local government administration in the state and, according to the court, operate as a stay of all actions and proceedings in the dispute between the local government councils and the state government pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

The Judge who is sitting as a vacation Judge adjourned the case to September 11, 2012 for hearing of the substantive application for a judicial review.

It was however learnt that in a separate matter before a high court in Owerri, the Imo state capital, the state government had argued that the council bosses were inaugurated on August 9, 2010 on a two-year tenure and should vacate office on August 8, 2012.

Lead counsel to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Niyi Akintola, a senior advocate of Nigeria had said that Governor Rochas Okorocha acted legally.

But the aggrieved council chairmen disagreed saying that they were elected on a three-year tenure that would lapse in 2013.