Oyo govt. bows to pressure, excludes rejected chairmanship nominees.

•Issued letters of appointment to 54 LGA, LCDA chairmen.

OYO State Government on Wednesday issued letters of appointment to 54 Caretaker Chairmen of the Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas claimed to have been sworn-in by Governor Abiola Ajimobi following the firm decision of the state House of Assembly ordering the Divisional Police Officers in charge of Irepo LG, Asabari LCDA and Lagelu West LCDA to arrest and detain anyone parading himself as chairman for those councils.

Meanwhile, the House of Assembly, had earlier screened and cleared 55 nominees but alleged that the executive arm led by Governor Ajimobi went ahead to inaugurate 57 nominees by not taking into consideration of the two nominees who had earlier been dropped for the positions by the house.

Mudasir Agbaje (Irepo LGA) and Taiwo Adeleke (Asabari LCDA) both who had initially been disqualified by the state House of Assembly as a result of their failure to produce the necessary certificates couple with their low performances during the screening exercise.

Also, the Governor was said to have disregarded the order of the state House of Assembly by swearing in one Abiodun Oladeji of Lagelu West LCDA against Akeem Aransi who was earlier nominated, screened and certified by the same State House of Assembly.

According to a point of order raised at the plenary of the house on Tuesday by Hon. Gbenga Oyekola from Atiba State Constituency who drew the attention of the lawmakers to the imminent risk on the inauguration of two (2) rejected nominees and substitution of the screneed nominee for Lagelu West LCDA.

Oyekola, supported by Hon. Olusegun Olaleye and Hon. Olawumi Oladeji recalled that,“the house screened 55 nominees and rejected two, but to my utmost dismay the two were sworn-in.

“Also, we screened Akeem Aransi for Lagelu West LCDA but unfortunately another person was swore-in and assumed office. On that note I want the house to produce the copy of the letter we sent to the executive. We sent the name to the executive and they received it”.

In a related development, the lawmaker further hinted that there is looming crisis in Lagelu West LCDA over who is the legitimate chairman because the person who was screened has been swapped with another person without the consent of the house.

Interestingly, the Chairman House Committee on Information, Hon. Josuha Oyebamiji corroborated,
“We screened 55 people but to our dismay, the two people we rejected were also swore-in. At Lagelu, the candidate we screened was replaced by another person.  And the house resolved that those people for the 3 councils should stop parading themselves until the committee we set up come up with their report.

“We said that DPOs in those areas should arrest them and hand them over to the Commissioner of Police”.

“The Committee will find out who and those who caused it, you can fell the heat in the house today.

Similarly , Oyebamiji said “The person has been swore-in before screening. It is a belated issue. The house has passed the letter to the committee. But there is no Chairman in these 3 councils”.

Confirming this development, the Chairman, House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Honourable Bolaji Badmus representing Akinyele II state constituency while presenting his report after the screening exercise disclosed that his committee has cleared 55 nominees and dropped two (2) who could not meet up with the required certificates and screening processes.

He hinted further that the house has requested for re-nomination of two new nominees from the State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi to fill the vacuum.

However, the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Olalekan Ali who is in charge of the state correspondences and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mrs Hannah Ogunesan have been called to answer the questions bothering on the swearing in of the rejected nominees and the substitution of names.

While presenting the appointment letters to the 27 caretaker chairmen of Local governments and 27 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) at a public presentation held at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr. Bimbo Kolade, who was in company of top government officials, stated that the Executive arm was acting in consonance with the deliberations of the State House of Assembly, warning that any individual not given appointment letter should not parade himself as a caretaker chairman.

The commissioner said, it will be recalled that the Oyo State Government created 35 LCDAs from the existing 33 Local Government areas in the state. The state now has 33 LGAs and 35 LCDAs.

Kolade noted that five LGAs and six LCDAs did not have any nomination due to the ongoing litigation in relation to council delineation and proposed conduct of council polls in the state.

According to him , “We want to put it on record that we have acted in accordance with the clearance we got from the House of Assembly.

“The Executive arm sent 57 names to the state House of Assembly for clearance. It consists of 28 names as Caretaker Chairmen for 28 local government areas and another 29 names for 29 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) recently created by the state. We have given caretaker chairmen of 27 LGAs and 27 LCDAs appointment letters.

“The Caretaker chairmen of Lagelu West LCDA, Asabari LCDA and Irepo LG were not given letters.  Also, the four councils in Oyo, namely Oyo West, Oyo East, Atiba and Afijio, as well as Oriire LG in Ogbomoso zone were exempted as no nominee presented due to the ongoing litigation in relation to council delineation and proposed conduct of council polls. The same thing applied to the six newly created LCDAs in Oyo zone and Oriire Local ‎government of the state”, Kolade reiterated.

The Commissioner, therefore charged the new caretaker chairmen to see to the development of their councils and communities, noting that no chairman is superior to the other.

However, days after the inauguration, an online news platform obtained photos and videos of the event.

In one of the photos, Taiwo Adeleke of Asabari LCDA was spotted in green ankara, standing beside Alhaji Kareem Adegoke- caretaker chairman of Saki West LG holding the oath form.

Similarly, in one of the video recordings, Mudasir Agbaje (Irepo LGA) was seen in the midst of jubilant crowd been prayed for in the palace of an Oba.

Besides, a comment obtained on social media platform by Mega Icon Magazine on Monday, April 10, 2017 at exactly 6:11pm from a suspected loyalist to the disqualified nominee, Mutalib Adewale reads : “Mega Icon stop crying wolf where there is none, Muda Agbaje has been sworn in by d gov, his emergence was accepted to d pple of Irepo, not only that, there has been a relative peace within Kisi Community”.

With these startling revelations, the end may not be in sight as political watchers in the state are keenly following the trends.