Govs decide who goes to Senate, House of Reps, state assemblies – ex LP governorship Aspirant, Achonu

By Jude Opara

Former Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Imo State, Athan Achonu, yesterday disclosed that state governors control who goes to the Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly.
Achonu said this is made possible because governors control the local governments.
Featuring on News Central’s Breakfast Central, monitored in Abuja, the former lawmaker said Nigerians will experience true democracy when the governors cease to control the LGs.
He said: “Nobody has faith in anything in this country anymore. The judiciary is a problem, the legislature is a problem, and everybody is complaining.
“Like I said, we already have structures that are supposed to protect the interest of this country and checkmate governance.
“For example, the National Assembly is supposed to be monitoring ministries – people are shouting that they use money to do this and that. There is BPP – who should be held responsible? Who will tell a contractor if he doesn’t approve an amount of money for a contract, it will not be awarded.
“They will award contracts and be challenging the President and contractor, meanwhile, there are civil servants whose responsibility it is to make sure that there is appropriate pricing for these projects. So there are people we can hold accountable and send to jail over this thing.
“Everybody is focusing on the President or the governors, so the structures are there, we can’t challenge them.
“For example, the governors control who goes to the Senate, House of Reps, House of Assembly because they control local governments. Once they cease to control that, you will see true democracy.
“See what was happening during Obasanjo. If you are a governor and want to win an election, you will go and appeal to the people properly but this time, nobody campaigns.”