Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo says he is “crippled” at the moment, but he still retains the
power to use his voice to draw attention to those who approach him for
assistance.
Speaking on Wednesday when he received the leadership of the
National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) at his Hilltop Mansion in
Abeokuta, Ogun state capital, the statesman expressed the wish to help the
union, which sought his intervention for the revival of the local government
structure.
Obasanjo accused state governments of incapacitating local
councils, wondering whether states could allow the federal government do the
same to them.
“There is no exception to this bastardisation and encroachment by
states. Even though both are supposed to be separate tiers of government, with
each having its roles and functions, that is not the case anymore,” he said.
“I wish I could help, but I am helpless. As it is, I can only help
you to shout and talk to the world. I do not have any executive or legislative
power. I am crippled.
“But we shall continue to talk until those who are reasonable
among them change this attitude.
“I begin to wonder if they (states) can allow what they are doing
to the local governments to be done to them.”
Speaking earlier, Ibraheem Khaleel, NULGE president, said the
union had come to enlist the support of the elder statesman in rescuing the
local government system.
“As a major player in the 1976 local government reform, we are
aware that the mission was to make the councils independent,” he said.
“But the situation has changed and the states have rendered the
local governments impotent. As things are now, the governors cannot not do
anything, that is why we decided to come to you to use your experience and not
to allow the local government system go into extinction.”
-TheCable
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