Sacked council chairmen urged to return govt property

 Yinka Adeniran and Segun Showumi, Ibadan

OYO State House of Assembly on Thursday asked the sacked chairmen of the 33 local governments and 35 local council development areas to return government property in their custody to the councils.

The lawmakers spoke during a matter of urgent public importance brought by Majority Leader Mr. Sanjo Adedoyin (Ogbomoso South).

But, the embattled chairmen described the call as a laughable matter.

The House said the call became imperative to ensure accountability and continuity of governance in the local governments and local council development areas.

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The legislators urged the police commissioner and other security agents to intervene and ensure government properties movable or unmovable allegedly taken away by the embattled Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) chairmen are returned to the councils.

The House directed the transition chairmen to take inventory of missing properties in their councils and forward the details to it.

Reacting on behalf of the sacked council bosses, Oyo ALGON Chairman Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye accused the state government of “acting contrary to the order of the court”, saying the court had restrained the government from collecting back those properties from the democratically-elected local government bosses.