The Senator representing Bayelsa West, Seriake Dickson, has said that the 1999 constitution has created emperors as governors and presidents of the country.
He said the drafters of the document omitted accountability in terms of the use of power by public office holders.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV, Mr Dickson said insufficient mechanisms for accountability by leaders must be addressed in the 1999 Constitution.
Responding to a question on why some governors have been obstructing financial autonomy for local governments, the ex-Bayelsa governor said: “If you look at the framework of our constitution, the biggest emperor that the Nigerian Constitution has created is the President, that’s the biggest emperor, but there are also 36 and now 37 (a Minister of the FCT.
Mr Dickson, who was the governor of the oil-rich Bayelsa from February 2012 to February 2020, said he never tampered with local government funds as governor for eight years.
“For eight years as governor, I never tampered with one naira of local government funds. I was rather giving them a percentage of IGR [internally generated revenue] to support them, but I am told that there are state governors who literally commandeer all their (LG) allocations and even given them piece of paper to sign.
“I now introduced a transparency law by which, as governor, I gave myself the legal obligation to announce what was coming to the state and how it was spent every month.
“That same law directed the local government chairmen to do the same in their local governments. And I said the punishment for not doing that consecutively amounts to gross misconduct,” he said.
