Some residents of Auchi, headquarters of the Etsako-West Local Government Area of Edo on Monday protested the suspension of the council chairman, Mr Yakubu Musa by the state government.
Gov. Godwin Obaseki had on Friday suspended the council chairman over an alleged N46 million fraud discovered in his council payroll.
The council secretariat was under lock and key as council workers were denied access to the secretariat by the protesters.
The protesters, carrying placards with various inscriptions to register their displeasure, disrupted vehicular movement on the busy Benin-Okene-Highway and shut down the council secretariat as no workers were allowed access.
Prince Muhammad Momoh, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, said the suspension was illegal, adding that the issue of fraud at the council was discovered by the suspended chairman.
Momoh, however, called for the reinstatement of Musa, saying that the chairman had no hand in the alleged fraud in the council.
“This protest is in solidarity with our son who was forcefully suspended without the due process of the law.
“The fraud issue was discovered by the chairman, reported to the state government and we wonder why he was suspended,’’ he said.
Momoh called on the state government to exercise transparency in addressing the fraud issue in the local government.
