The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Thursday said they would mobilise against the the candidacy of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi if they opt to go against autonomy of local government.
Tinubu, Atiku and Obi are the flag bearers of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), respectively in the 2023 presidential election.
The president of NULGE, Comrade Hakeem Ambali, told journalists that it was only Kogi and Abia states that have signed the autonomy bill out of the 36 states.
He applauded the political parties, especially, the PDP and APC, for refusing to give their tickets to anti-local government autonomy aspirants during their party primaries at the just concluded convention.
NULGE had earlier warned the political party before their convention that it would be a bad market for them to give their tickets to anti-local government autonomy aspirant, saying the entire local government workers would vote against such party.
“On that background NULGE wants to call on the prominent political candidates, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu of APC, Atiku Abubakar of PDP, and Peter Obi of Labour party to come out categorically and clearly, to let Nigerians know their mindset and plan on local government autonomy.
“They must come out. What do they intend to do? Any candidate that failed to state categorically his stand on local government autonomy should not be voted for by Nigerian people. NULGE would go out to mobilise against such candidate,” he said.
He called on all members of NULGE to use all the window available now to collect their PVC “so that we would be able to stand a good ground to vote for a candidate that intend to grant local government autonomy or sustain local government autonomy struggle.”
He also called on President Muhammadu Buhari that the only legacy he can live behind for Nigerians to remember him is to use his political power to prevail on APC states to quickly pass local government autonomy.
“It is not enough to desire local government autonomy; it is time to match President Buhari desire with action.
“Against this background, we want to call on the remaining 34 states assembly to see it as a patriotic duty the quick passage of Local Government Autonomy Bill. Nigeria should not be allowed to disintegrate completely. The threat of insecurity, joblessness, youth restiveness, banditry, terrorism, and poverty that is confronting Nigerian masses need to be controlled. The way to fix this is by granting absolute autonomy to local government system,” he said.
