From Joseph Okwuofu, Ibadan
Sacked local government chairmen on Tuesday kicked against Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde’s inauguration of caretaker chairmen for local councils, insisting that their mandate “remains sacrosanct.”
The sacked council chairmen under the aegis of ALGON described the governor’s action as “another leg of illegality that the current administration is gaining notoriety for.”
Makinde had on Monday inaugurated caretaker chairmen for the 33 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 35 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.
The governor had, on assumption of office on May 29, dissolved the elected council chairmen put in place by the immediate past administration of former governor Abiola Ajimobi.
Read Also: Oyo ALGON draws battle line over caretaker inauguration
But the state ALGON chair, Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, said in a statement that the latest action of the Oyo governor was another evidence of his contempt for the judiciary.
The association, therefore, urged its members to remain steadfast in the defence of their constitutional rights as they await further directives on resolutions reached on the alleged latest breach by the governor, insisting: “We remain in office by law.”
The ALGON statement partly reads: “We respond to the continuous disregard of the Supreme Court judgment and High Court judgment forbidding the dissolution of democratically elected local government functionaries by the Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, and weep for the slide our state and the rule of law is witnessing in his hands.
“The governor again displayed his despise to the highest court of the land with the swearing – in of illegal caretaker committees, an illegal contraption and a body of power usurpers that is unknown to our law as proclaimed by the Highest Court of the land. A Governor that again recently publicly and falsely accused Justices of the Court of Appeal in Ibadan, on air, of unfounded allegations, cannot respect the courts except when decisions favour him.
“We reject these serial illegalities which are a crude assault on our democracy, and rape of our constitution, more so, when the appeal filed by the State Government against the High Court judgment is still pending.
“We reaffirm our confidence in the rule of law and the independence of the Judiciary to uphold the Supreme Court’s and the Oyo State High Court’s subsisting judgement against illegal dissolution of councils.
“Now that another illegality is committed by the state governor in the face of existing court judgements, we ask the commissioner of police, where lies the objectivity in enforcing law and order in Oyo State? History records.”
Leave a Reply