Cross River LG Election: AG To Appear In Court With Over 20 Lawyers, Seek Vacation Of Interim Order

By CrossRiverWatch Admin

The Attorney General of Cross River State, Mr. Joe Oshie Abang, is set to lead over 20 of his state counsels from the Ministry of Justice to appear before the High Court of Cross River State in a bid to seek a vacation or setting aside of the interim order earlier granted by the court restraining the State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade from appointing local government administrators in the State. It will be recalled that the tenure of democratically elected chairmen of 17 local government councils in the State expired on the 15th day of December, 2016; and the State Governor instructed the various Heads of Local Government Administration (HOLGA) to take over the administration of their respective councils pending when elections will be conducted.

In response, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State had dragged the State Governor to court seeking, among other things, to restrain Senator Ben Ayade from appointing administrators other than democratically elected chairmen as envisaged by the Constitution.

CrossRiverWatch gathered that the suit which is pending before the State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Okoi Ikpi Itam is slated to come up tomorrow (Tuesday) the 24th day of January, 2017 where the Attorney General of the State will argue a Motion on Notice seeking to vacate the earlier interim restraining order granted by the court.

Also named as parties in the suit, are all the chairmen and heads of local government administration in the respective local government councils (except Bakassi).

Meanwhile, the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) which is the body statutorily empowered to conduct local government elections in the State, has hinted that the local government elections will hold in the second quarter of the year.