Local council chairmen, newly sworn-in for 17 local council areas in Cross River State, begin their first full day in office today after the formalities of their swearing-in ceremonies and the haze of celebrations that followed. It was discovered by calitown.com that all the chairmen and women were unable to fully participate in the elaborate receptions planned for them at separate locations in Calabar by friends, well wishers and party faithfuls.
A competent government source told calitown.com that “their meeting with the governor and officials of the local government ministry, considered very important, took the bulk of the time they would have spent with their teeming supporters, but ofcourse after the meeting, their supporters had the council heads to themselves”.
Meanwhile, lobbying for various level appointments into various positions in the councils, commenced even before the chairmen arrived their various councils. Reports monitored by calitown.com from across the state indicate that the ‘contest’ for Executive positions like Supervisors, and discretionary positions like personal aides, are being hotly sought after by a legion of party faithfuls and others driven in the quest by massive unemployement, a wish to be settled politically, even greed.
In one local government in the North of the state, unconfirmed reports say two brothers are locked in a bitter tussle for the position of Supervisor. It was further revealed that one of the brothers has resorted to the use of black magic, a desperate measure, to win for himself the position. “You can understand that the financial attachments to these positions are forcing most of them to do the ugly and esoteric in furtherance of their pursuit that of positions that will guarantee no joy in the end”.
Perhaps too, percieved contenders are feeling they have a justification to go the whole hog in pursuit of their ambitions. One told calitown.com that, “I have been supporting my party, PDP, long enough to be considered and settled with an appointment and that is why I must follow this to the end”.
Painfully though, not many people are working on helping the chairmen articulate policies and programmes to benefit a greater percentage of people at the grassroots level who have over the years borne the brunt of ineffective leadership by corrupt officials.
