Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has ordered the audit of the accounts of the 23 Local Government Areas for the past three years.
Fubara gave the order to the Auditor General of the state on Wednesday while swearing in the Caretaker Committee Chairmen of the local councils at the Executive Council Chamber of the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The governor said the audit of the accounts is intended to serve as a check for the incoming chairmen and make the local councils more accountable.
Fubara urged the caretaker chairmen to protect the interests of their people, not to see themselves as superheroes and to demonstrate that the government was right in appointing them.
He, however, cautioned that their tenure would not be excessively long, because the process for local government area elections would commence soon.
The governor also ordered a probe of the tenures of the outgoing local government chairmen, saying that the current events in the state are a product of democracy.
He warned against violence, stating that it is not his approach, urging the officials to sort out the salaries and entitlements of the outgoing chairmen.
Fubara explained that the fight against tenure extension is not just about the state, but the entire country, as allowing it in one state could lead to it being replicated nationwide.
The governor pointed out that Rivers State was not doing anything unusual, as most states in the country are also run by caretaker committees.
