How ALGON President Survived Ouster Plot

How ALGON President Survived Ouster Plot

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The embattled National President of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Hon. Kolade Alabi David, last Thursday survived what would have amounted to an internal coup against him.

An opposing camp had issued a statement last weekend declaring that the National Executive Council of ALGON has removed Mr. David as its president.

He was said to have been removed for alleged breach of the association’s constitution for not being a chairman of a recognised local government council.
However, in a swift reaction, Hon. David convened an emergency meeting of ALGON’s National Executive Council where members as well as its Board of Trustees passed a vote of confidence on him.

In a comunique issued after the NEC meeting held on Thursday in Abuja, it said the president had performed satisfactorily and as such deserves their support .

The Secretary General, Binta Bello, who read the decision of the association to journalists, said that NEC members of the association expressed their unflinching loyalty to Hon. DavId, adding that reports of his alleged removal were false.

The Communiqué reads: “We wish to express our unflinching loyalty to Hon. David Alabi as the national president of ALGON and aver unequivocally our consensus solidarity as well as unbroken loyalty to his administration which is presently bringing back the ideals and objective of its founding fathers as enshrined in section 2 of our constitution”.

ALGON’s Deputy National President, Muhammed Aliyu, whom the rebel group asked to replace David, was at the NEC meeting and signed the resolution on the vote of confidence for his boss .

The leadership crisis in ALGON took a dramatic turn last weekend when a group issued a statement alleging that the NEC has removed Kolade David for breaching the association’s constitution.
A statement signed by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Andrew Alu, said that the association’s Deputy National President Mahmud Aliyu was to act as the national president.

Alu had alleged that David was not a chairman of any of the recognised 774 local government areas in Nigeria as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Also on Wednesday, a group of protesters, under the auspices of Concerned Citizens for Justice and Accountability, stormed the headquarters of ALGON carrying placards with various inscriptions such as: “LCDA is not recognized”, “Development Council Chairman cannot be National President”, “LCDA is not recognised in 774 LGs in Nigeria”, among others.

Addressing journalists, their leader, Yusuf Itopa, asked David to immediately handover to the new National President, Mohammed Aliyu, who had been duly elected as Chairman of Soba Local Government Area in Kaduna State.

He said current National President of the ALGON was not qualified to hold the position, because he came from Bariga LCDA which was not among the 774 LGs in Nigeria.

“We are here to protest against the illegality that is happening in the leadership of ALGON. The current National President of the ALGON, is not eligible and legally elected according to ALGON constitution. ALGON is for 774 LGs in Nigeria. The chairmen of the Local Governments are the ones eligible to elect their leaders,” he said.

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