The festering crisis or division rocking the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON),ImoStatechapter has reached a crescendo as indications emerged at the weekend that 14 Local Government Chairmen have shifted allegiance to the peace committee of the body led by Ikeduru Executive Chairman, Chief Sam Aka.
ALGON are made up of 27 local Government Chairmen who ruled the 27 Local Government Councils before they were sacked from office by Governor Rochas Okorocha on June 8th, 2011
While Okorocha is of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the 27 ALGON members are of the PDP.
The crisis in the Association accentuated to an unprecedented level when the Rubby Emele/Enyinnaya Onuegbu led committee was alleged to have fallen out of favour with some members of the Association for several reasons.
A source told Imo Trumpeta that some of the reasons include the desire of some of the Council Chairmen led by Chief Sam Aka to negotiate for out of Court with the Okorocha Administration as a basis to ensure the return of peace in the Local Governments in the State.
The Aka group are also said to be dissatisfied with the manner the leadership of ALGON are using the ongoing battle to make huge personal financial gains from prominent members of the PDP, including a top ranking member of the Federal House of Representatives from Imo State who has ceaselessly funded ALGON to continue the legal war against the Okorocha Administration.
The Federal House member, who is eying the 2015 Imo governorship race, it was gathered, is anticipating the ALGON members to repay his financial support by serving as part of his political structure to oil his governorship ambition.
This seems not to have gone down well with the Aka led group who have metamorphosed into the Peace Committee of ALGON who insist that ALGON should be not be anybody’s political structure now or in the future.
Speaking to newsmen in Owerri on the raging crisis in ALGON, Chairman of the ALGON Peace Committee, Chief Sam Aka said it is unfortunate that some people in ALGON are feeding fat on the lingering crises between the Association and Imo State Government.
Aka said he has no regrets for opting to seek to an end to the lingering feud between ALGON and Okorocha Administration, saying his Committee is seeking for a permanent solution to end the face off in order to roar back the Local Governments in the State back to life. He added that Imo Local Governments have remained in a comatose condition because of the legal fireworks between the body and the Okorocha Administration.
Aka, who is the Executive Chairman of Ikeduru Local Government Area, said the Peace Committee is only concerned about this sad development, thus it resolved to make an offer for peace with the present Administration.
He said ‘We are not trouble, but rather peace makers. There is nothing wrong if one seek for peace. We are championing for the return of peace in the Local Government Administration of Imo State. We are only concerned with the condition of our local Governments and there is nothing wrong if we sue for peace. There is no division in ALGON either’
Aka, who is the Publisher of an Owerri based Red Parrot Newspaper, denied allegations that his group are lobbying the Okorocha Administration to be appointed as Sole Administrators in the Local Governments.
He said his group merely extended a hand of reconciliation as a basis to achieve peace in the LGs in the State, stating that at no time has he deviated from the aims and objectives of the ALGON Peace Committee. He added that he has paid a huge price for the restoration of the mandate of the Council Chairmen having lost his cousin and Chief of Staff during the cause of the struggle.
Aka maintained the loyalty of his group to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State, saying the peace initiative instituted by ALGON Peace Committee is geared towards the good and interest of the State
