Obaland magazine learned that, With the local government elections inching closer in Edo state, attention has now turned in the direction of the helmsmen of these local councils. For some of them, three years had come so early; the clock ran down so fast and caught them unawares like the expected biblical rapture. It was a rude awakening. A few could beat their chests of getting a shot at reelection owing to their remarkable performances in their first term. Nevertheless, it was time to stand before the people to render an account of their stewardship over the last three years. There is no escaping the judgment day.
Most analysts have argued that most of the elected local government chairmen were mostly underperformers, more of court jesters rather than administrators, praise singers rather than renaissance thinkers. They lacked the competence to even lead their homes let alone a whole local government.
Prior to the last Governorship elections in 2020, most of them were largely unknown, popping their shameful heads to champion ‘TORGBA’ in support of the state Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki in order to demonstrate their loyalty, trying so hard to be in the good graces of his excellency, but even the Governor wouldn’t be fooled. He could see through the deception, He knew the performers from the sycophantic band of Hallelujah men. Their obscurity justified by their inability to show any visible projects or policies to their names or administration over the last three years. Some chose to turn their council secretariats to a rendezvous of corruption were kill and divide looting of council resources became the order of the day. Payment of salaries seemed a herculean task, even projects look more like a Gordian knot of which their incompetent hands found difficult to untie.
In most of the local government areas, the story is the same, the call for a change of guard rings louder than the morning assembly bell. This is the shameful outlook of some of the incumbent local government chairmen who feel reelection is their birthright rather than performance. They make a case of supporting the governor during his re-election as a justification for a free ride to their own reelection forgetting that their immediate constituencies would be the ultimate judge of their performance in office and not the state Governor. Little wonder a certain local government chairman in the state could offer to host a victory celebration for the governor with the scarce resources at his disposal while his workers in the council whine over the lack of payment of their salaries. A misplaced priority indeed.
While a few may have done well to earn re-election, the contest is still wide open for other alternatives. Loyalty shouldn’t supersede performance neither should failures be reinforced to fail further for another term.
Judgment day is here, and the earlier the incumbent chairmen understood that blind loyalty, poor governance, and inept administration cannot replace competence and result oriented governance the better.