Councilors in Southwest geopolitical zone have urged Governor Seyi Makinde to respect the rule of law by allowing elected local government chairmen and councilors in Oyo state to complete their terms in office irrespective of political nomenclature.

The lawmakers under the aegis of Southwest State Councilors’ Forum added that by promoting rule of law, Governor Makinde would also be projecting Oyo state as a state that is not going back to brigandage era after 8 years of sustainable peace and security enjoyed by residents of the state.

In a statement signed by its Chairman, Hon. Taiwo Olukunle Alaba which was made available to Mega Icon Magazine , the Forum noted that the Council Chiefs and Councilors were elected in an election conducted by OYSIEC, a duly constituted State Independent Electoral Body. 

The statement reads, “We the Southwest Councilors’ Forum of Nigeria wishes to register our voices as enshrined in the Constitution of Nigeria on purported dissolution of duly elected Local government Chairmen and Councilors in Oyo state by His Excellency, Governor Seyi Abiodun Makinde.

“A May 6th 2019 High Court judgement had also restrained the government and its representative or agencies from dissolving the councils or freezing the bank accounts of the councils.

“The court held that, dissolution of elected council Chairmen and Councilors by the State Government or the House of Assembly is contrary to section  7(1)of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

“The subsisting Supreme Court judgement on Ekiti state has removed such fanciful act of executive indulgence in using the State House of Assembly or mere announcement of dissolution by the Oyo state Governor’s Chief of Staff to perpetrate illegality and dissolve elected local government on the whims and Caprice of a state government.

“We also appeal to His Excellency, Engr. Seyi Makinde to promote rule of law by allowing elected officials to spend their terms of office regardless of their political nomenclature, the statement concluded.

The Forum, however commended the state’s ALGON and Forum of Councilors led by Prince Abass Aleshinloye and Hon Adesoji Adesokan for being constructive and peaceful in its approach by seeking redress in the court of law.

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ALGON, also described the dissolution as illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary as the Commission has a statutory five-year tenure which ends in 2021.

Contained in a statement signed by its Chairman,  Prince Abass Aleshinloye and made available to Mega Icon Magazine, the action of Governor Seyi Makinde “is yet another faulty and illegal step in the series of lawlessness and executive rascality the government of Oyo state is now known for.”

Aleshinloye described Governor Makinde’s statement that all the entitlement due to the members of the dissolved Commission would be paid in order to absolve the state of any liability as, “laughable and humiliating of the Commission’s members.

“We have become an endangered state with Governor Seyi Makinde’s unending assault on all that is legal and constitutional. We woke up to the announcement of the illegal and reckless act of dissolution of the statutory commissions in Oyo state this week by the Governor. In his ill-conceived attempt to avoid the self-inflicted liability occasioned by his lawless act, he made a promise of ‘Naira rain’ to members of the illegally dissolved commissions as a ‘compensation’ to members of the bodies. Not only is this laughable, humiliating of the distinguished members  of these commissions who he has presented as if they are hungry for gain rather than to serve, it is also embarrassing  and smacks of poor administrative judgement and disregard for all that is hallowed in any sane clime”, he said.

The ALGON boss further advised the governor against the planned monetization as, “illegalities cannot be monetized and commercialized”, stressing that  monetization  of lawlessness does not cure its illegality.

He described the action as corruption in its basest form, “morally reprehensible, unconstitutional and cannot stand the test of law.

Prince Aleshinloye was bewildered where the governor would source the money from and described the action as a further “plunder of our commonwealth” in a state he has described as bankrupt. “ Are  taxpayers in Oyo state now to bear the  brunt of this recklessness? If you pay the commission members their five years wages at once for only two years spent and proceed to appoint new people to the same commissions, what it amounts to is another burden on the citizenry as they will now pay  wages and emoluments to two different sets of people within the same term”.

Continuing, ALGON Boss, queried the Governor’s managerial skill as he would be incapable of demanding prudence and probity from workers if he was also laying bad examples.

“If a worker is found collecting two or more person’s salary now, is it different from what Mr Governor is authorizing and doing now? We have had an administration reputed and branded as the, “builder of modern Oyo state” , but it seems Governor  Makinde is gaining notoriety as the “initiator of a lawless Oyo state “. It is our prayer that our people will not follow this example . When President Buhari assumed office in 2015, he worked with the INEC, FJSC,NJC, CBN and other commissions duly constituted till their tenures expired. We thought this introduced a new spirit into governance in Nigeria, but clearly our Governor still lives in the unfortunate past.

Aleshinloye, then called on ALGON members, secretaries, councillors and supervisors to  ignore the directive to a  committee set up earlier to probe the accounts of elected local government administration by the governor. He described the committee as another illegality that is  unknown to the Nigerian constitution and an affront on subsisting court judgement.

“By law, a governor cannot probe local government chairmen, just like the president cannot probe a state governor by an adhoc committee. It is only a Governor of illegalities that seeks to dare the hallowed letters of our constitution he swore to uphold. No state Governor in Nigeria has followed this ill-conceived lawless example. Accounts of local government councils are regularly audited by the auditors from the Auditor General’s office  and its activities are also regularly monitored accordingly.

“ We therefore join the good people  of Oyo state to demand a reversal of such poor and reckless executive decision.”

The post Oyo ALGON accuses Makinde of executive rascality over dissolution of OYSIEC first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Oyo ALGON accuses Makinde of executive rascality over dissolution of OYSIEC appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

It was inaugurated on Thursday by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr Bimbo Kolade, in his Agodi Government Secretariat office, Ibadan.

ALGON is the official association of elected local government chairmen.

The newly inaugurated ALGON has Mr Ayodeji Abbas-Aleshinloye as Chairman, Pastor Jesutoye Oluyinka as Secretary, Mr Niyi Adeagbo as Publicity Secretary and Mr Bosun Ajuwon as Financial Secretary respectively

Others are Mr Ibrahim Habib (Welfare Officer),

Bisi Oladeji (Ex-Officio1) and Wasiu Owolabi – (Ex-Officio 2).

Inaugurating the new Executive, Kolade said the ALGON would have been inaugurated far before now but for series of campaigns and elections which started early last year.

The new chairmen were elected May last year.

Kolade also  charged the new officers to work hard to justify the confidence reposed in them by their colleagues.

In his reaction, Abass-Aleshinloye said the chairmen did them a great honour by expressing huge confidence in their ability to represent them well. He said the election was smooth and free of rancour, adding that four of the seven zonal leaders are among the newly elected.

With the revival of ALGON, Abass-Aleshinloye said a lot of issues about local governance would be better tackled.

ALGON went into extinction in the state in 2011. A new election could not be conducted until

last year due to legal restrictions.

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