Abuja: The Centre for Women’s Rights and Development Initiative has appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney-General of the Federation to intervene in the alleged plot to suspend Mrs Alice Tangi, the chairperson of Sagbama local government area in Bayelsa. The group’s Executive Director, Dr Marilyn Okoro, made the call in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Okoro alleged that the Bayelsa Government, through the State House of Assembly and Sagbama Local Government legislative council, planned to suspend and remove Tangi from office. Okoro described the alleged move as unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and a direct assault on local government autonomy, women’s political participation, and the rule of law.
She emphasized that Tangi remained the only woman elected as a local government chairperson in Bayelsa under the current democratic dispensation and the second in history. The alleged plot to suspend and remove Tangi constitutes a direct affront to women and a betrayal of democratic principles, Okoro stated.
Okoro highlighted that every Nigerian, including elected local government chairpersons, enjoyed the constitutional right to freedom of association without intimidation, coercion, or threats of political removal. She pointed out that political affiliation must remain a matter of personal conviction and free will, not compulsion or coercion.
She further stressed that neither the governor nor the State House of Assembly possessed constitutional powers to remove an elected local government chairperson before the expiration of their tenure. Okoro recalled that the Supreme Court, in its July 11, 2024 judgment, granted full financial and administrative autonomy to Nigeria’s 774 local government councils, directing that federal allocations be paid directly to local governments and prohibiting governors from dissolving elected councils across Nigeria.
Okoro urged the Attorney-General of the Federation to intervene immediately and halt any planned unconstitutional suspension or removal of the council chairperson. She warned that any attempt to remove Tangi would undermine local government autonomy, a constitutional principle consistently promoted by President Tinubu, and called for the continued payment of statutory allocations directly to the Sagbama Local Government Council.
She appealed to Bayelsa women and other Nigerians to defend Tangi against what she described as politically motivated intimidation targeting female political office holders. Okoro reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to defending Tangi and every woman resisting political intimidation and violations of constitutionally guaranteed democratic rights.