Tragically,a disturbing wave of impeachment, threats of impeachment is sweeping across local government councils of Cross River State , casting a dark shadow over grassroots governance. What should be the closest tier of government to the people is increasingly being turned into a battlefield for political supremacy, entitlement and personal gain.
The pattern has become too familiar to ignore. It often begins with disagreements between council chairmen and influential stakeholders within the ruling APC. These disagreements are rarely rooted in ideology, performance or public interest. Findings consistently point to the scramble for control over lucrative revenue points, which form the backbone of councils’ internally generated revenue, as the real trigger of the impasse.
In many cases, chairmen who refuse to hand over these juicy revenue points to political jobbers are marked for removal. These jobbers, armed with a deep sense of entitlement, see revenue contracts as political settlement rather than public trust. They demand access, collect proceeds and remit little or nothing back to the council, thereby weakening local finances and stalling development. When such demands are resisted, impeachment becomes the weapon of warfare.
The unfolding drama within the ruling APC is particularly embarrassing. From Bekwarra to Yala and now Ikom, the party has watched internal discord consume local councils. In Bekwarra, the crisis culminated in the elevation of the vice chairman to substantive chairman after the ouster of the chairman.The ongoing clandestine moves to unseat the chairman of Ikom suggest that the same script is being rehearsed once again.
This trend sends a dangerous signal, suggesting that grassroots governance revolves around the whims and caprices of a few powerful individuals who treat local governments as inherited estates rather than public institutions. Also,it reinforces the perception that council leadership is not about service but about submission to political godfathers.
Even more alarming is the normalization of impeachment as a tool of intimidation. Instead of being a constitutional mechanism reserved for grave misconduct, impeachment has been reduced to a whip used to coerce elected chairmen into compliance. This abuse erodes democratic values, discourages independent leadership and undermines accountability.
Now is the time for urgent intervention. We urge critical party leaders, elders and state actors to rise above factional interests and rescue local governance from the grip of entitlement driven politics. They must make it clear that local government resources belong to the people and not to a privileged few. Chairmen should be allowed to govern, guided by transparency, accountability and due process, without the constant threat of political guillotine hanging over their heads.
Curtailing the impeachment frenzy in LGAs is not just about protecting individuals in office. It is about safeguarding democracy at the grassroots, restoring public confidence and ensuring that local governments fulfill their mandate as engines of development. Anything short of this will continue to reduce councils to arenas of endless power struggles, while the people they were created to serve remain the ultimate losers.