THE controversy over the Supreme Court judgment, which ordered the relocation of headquarters of Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti State has taken another dimension.
The apex court, in a judgment delivered by a panel led by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour on December 14, 2018, ordered the relocation of the council headquarters from Iye-Ekiti to Eda Oniyo.
The 19-year case, which was filed by the Eleda of Eda Oniyo, Oba Julius Awolola, challenging the relocation of council headquarters to Iye after it was initially sited in his domain started at the State High Court. It went through the Court of Appeal before it was finally decided at the Supreme Court.
The apex court held that the establishment of the headquarters of the local government in Eda Oniyo was backed by statute and could not be relocated elsewhere without the promulgation of a new law.
But the people of Iye, led by their monarch, the Oniye, Oba Jonathan Adeleye-Oni, have filed a fresh suit before an Ekiti State High Court to prevent the implementation of the Supreme Court’s judgment.
The originating summons sighted by The Nation yseterday has the Oniye as the first claimant and the President of Iye Development Association, Mr. Elijah Olufemi Kupolati, is the second claimant.
The defendants are the Ekiti State Governor (first) Attorney General of Ekiti State (second) and the Eleda of Eda Oniyo, Oba Julius Awolola (third).
The suit was filed few weeks after a seven-member panel raised by the state government on the Supreme Court verdict paid a fact-finding visit to the two communities as part of its assignment.
The panel, which is chaired by the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, is expected to turn in its report to Governor Kayode Fayemi for implementation any moment from now.
The claimants in the fresh suit filed by their counsel, Mr. Taiwo Kupolati, are seeking a court’s declaration that by virtue of the Local Government Administration Law of Ekiti State No. 2 of 1999, being a law which has not been reviewed, repealed, nullified or invalidated by any order of court, Iye Ekiti remains the headquarters of Ilejemeje Local Government Council.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the matter.
They also prayed the court for an order directing the first and second defendants to continue to honour and implement the provisions of Local Government Administration Law of Ekiti State No. 2 of 1999, being a law which has validly established and statutorily backed up Iye-Ekiyi as the headquarters of Ilejemeje Local Government Council.
Leave a Reply