Sacked in 2019 by Governor Seyi Makinde, these council chairmen secured an N4.9bn judgment in 2021 against Makinde and state officials.

Led by Bashorun Majeed Ajuwon, they aim to recover the outstanding N3.5bn, of which Makinde paid only N1.5bn in 2022.

Banks affected include Zenith, UBA, Wema, First Bank, Ecobank, GTBank, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, Jaiz Bank, and Union Bank.

Justice Ebong has ordered banks to justify the garnishee orders on the next adjourned date and awarded N300,000.00 as costs against the judgement debtors.

The court adjourned the hearing until January 5 next year.

Despite a Supreme Court ruling voiding Makinde’s sack of elected Local Government officials in May 2021, the Oyo State Government has not paid the unlawfully sacked council chiefs, unlike Katsina State.

Justice Ejembi Eko criticised Makinde’s decision to unlawfully dismiss elected council chiefs before the end of their tenure.

The post Ex- ALGON: Court Freezes Oyo Accounts Over N3.5bn Debt first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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The  state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde  gave the directive during a meeting with the Caretaker Chairmen held at the Agodi Government Secretariat, Ibadan, on Thursday.

Local government chairpersons sacked by Governor Seyi Makinde had on Monday resumed in their offices based on a judgment of the Supreme Court that governors, States House of Assembly cannot arbitrarily dissolve elected local government councils.

But, Governor Makinde on his verified Facebook page submitted. “This afternoon, we met with Local Government and Local Community Development Areas Caretaker Chairpersons. I urged them to remain focused on the task at hand; to decide on projects for each of our LGAs and LCDAs and execute them for the benefit of our people”.

The post Oyo LG Crisis: Makinde Directs Caretaker Chairmen To Identify Projects For Execution first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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Attorney-General of the state, Professor Oyelowo Oyewo, in a four-page response to a letter by the AGF, said that though the AGF did not submit the said letter to his office, he had to source the same from the social media in view of the weighty nature of the issues.

According to Prof. Oyewo, the AGF has no business dabbling into the matter of local government dissolution in Oyo State which is pending before the Court of Appeal.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa indicated on Thursday, that the statement credited to Malami was uncalled for, misguided and lacking in merit, as far as the constitution of Nigeria is concerned.

The Government of Oyo State maintained that Malami’s letter dated 14 January, 2020, was written without adequate information and knowledge of the current position of the subject matter of dissolution of local government in the State.

According to the statement, the issue of local government dissolution in Oyo state is a subject of stay/appeal that is pending before the Court of Appeal in two cases including Governor of Oyo State Vs Basorun Bosun Ajuwon, Appeal no CA/IB/300/2019 and Basorun Majeed Bosun Ajuwon Vs Governor of Oyo State CA/IB/362/2019.

“It is also instructive to note that parties have filed their respective briefs of argument and the appeals have now been fixed for the 19th of February, 2020,” the statement reads.

The Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Oyo State equally declared that only the court and not the AGF could pronounce an order on the matter, which was sub judice.
The Government called on Malami to rise above partisan politics and advise parties to await judgment of the court in the various appeals.

The Government added that the Constitution of the country had empowered States to ensure the existence and functioning of local governments, noting that it was not aware of any Act of the National Assembly that empowered the AGF to write the letter in which he purportedly barked orders at the State Government.

In the rejoinder entitled “RE: ALLEGED UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF DISSOLUTION OF ELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCILS AND APPOINTMENT OF CARETAKER COMMITTEES: THE URGENT NEED FOR COMPLIANCE WITH EXTANT JUDICIAL DECISIONS,” Professor Oyewo said: “I wish to note that your letter Ref. No, HAGF/OYO/2020/Vol.1/1 of 14th January, 2020 dealing with the above subject matter was never served on us, but we read about it and had to secure a copy from the social media.

“I must note that under Section 7(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which you referred to in your letter, it is the Law of the State Government that is to ensure the existence of the system of Local Government by democratically elected Local Government Council by providing for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils and not a Federal Law/Act.

“It is therefore not clear under what Act of the National Assembly the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice was acting in writing the letter under reference.

“It should be borne in mind that our Constitution has established a Federal system of government whereby the state government is not under the command of the Federal Government, neither are we under Military Era when the Federal Government could give a binding order to the State Government by mere proclamation and at will. We are now in a civilian dispensation and the position of every officer whether at the Federal or State level is guided by the provisions of the Constitution and relevant law.”

The Oyo AG referred the AGF to two cases including Attorney-General Lagos Vs Attorney-General Federation (2004) 18 N.W.LR (PT.S 904)II and Attorney General Abia Vs Attorney-General Federation(2002) 6 N.W.L.R (PT. 763)264.

The letter continued: “We are of the firm belief that your letter under reference was written without adequate information and knowledge of the current position with respect to the subject matter of Local Government Dissolution in Oyo State. A careful diligent search would have shown that the issue of Dissolution of Local Government in Oyo is presently a subject matter of stay/appeal and pending at the Court of Appeal in the following cases; a.) Governor of Oyo State vs Basorun Bosun Ajuwon Appeal NO CA/IB/300/2019 and b.) Basorun Majeed Bosun Ajuwon vs Governor of Oyo State CA/IB/362/2019.”

The Government of Oyo State, however, took exception to perceived threats by Malami, especially his directive to some federal agencies to “ensure compliance,” noting that until the constitutional right of appeal, which is guaranteed in the country’s adjudicatory system, is exhausted, Malami had no right to dabble in the matter of the local government dissolution or threaten the State.

“We, therefore, want to advise the Attorney-General of the Federation to rise above partisan politics and advise parties to await judgment of the court in the various appeals. To do otherwise is to foist a fait accompli on the court.

As a law-abiding Government, we are prepared to abide by the decision of the court when eventually delivered. We are, however, unperturbed by the subtle threat in your letter and your directives to take steps to ensure compliance of a cited judgment in which Oyo State was never a party and on a live matter in which an appeal is pending.

“For the avoidance of doubt, please note further that in Oyo State, the issue of Local Government administration is presently before the court of competent jurisdiction and by our adjudicatory system, whoever is aggrieved by the decision of a court has the constitutional right of appeal. Until such right is exhausted, the Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice cannot dabble into such matter. We are aware of the provisions of Section 174 (1) to (3) of the CFRN, 1999 (as amended) but they only relate to criminal proceedings and not civil matters as in this case. The action of the Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice is therefore uncalled for with respect to a matter that is sub judice. It is only a court of law that can given such an order and not the office of the Attorney-General & Minister of Justice. All the cases referred to in your letter mentioned above are not on all fours with the present cases involving Oyo State because the facts are not the same. A case is an authority for what it decides.

“It will therefore be in interest of justice to allow the rule of law to prevail by letting the pending cases involving Oyo State on the dissolution of Local Governments in Oyo State to run their full course in the law courts.”

The post LG Dissolution: Malami’s letter not served on us – Oyo AG reacts first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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The post Security Alert: Oyo ALGON directs members, councilors, others to resume tomorrow, as Makinde appoints caretaker chairmen first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Security Alert: Oyo ALGON directs members, councilors, others to resume tomorrow, as Makinde appoints caretaker chairmen appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

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Peter Ameh, President of the council, on Wednesday during a press briefing blamed poor economic development at the grassroots level on the poor funding of local governments.

According to him, “The current system encourages massive rigging because the SEC are under the whims and caprices of the state government and the political party in power in each of the states across Nigeria.

“As we have seen over the years, the political party that controls such state will stop at nothing to tailor election results in their favour.

“The opposition party in the state is always left with nothing”

He stressed  that if local authorities have autonomy it will be easy to hold them accountable.

“What is going on presently in Local governments across Nigeria is a mockery of our democracy”.

The council, however  asked for a national electoral reform conference to review Nigeria’s electoral process adding that they will support the National Assembly on any moves aimed at granting financial autonomy to local governments in the country.

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NEITI, in a statement signed by its Director, Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, that the Federal Government received N1.599 trillion, the 36 states got N1.335 trillion while the 774 local governments shared N792 billion during the period under review.

The FAAC disbursement of N3.84 trillion for the first half of 2019 was slightly lower than the N3.94 trillion disbursed during the same period in 2018  but higher than the N2.78 trillion disbursed in the first half of 2017.

On a quarter basis, the second quarter of 2019 was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2017.

“The quarterly FAAC disbursements from Q1 2013 to Q2 2019 reveal that the total disbursement of N1.913 trillion in the second quarter of 2019 was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2017 when N1.700 trillion was disbursed. The figure shows that three quarters of 2018 had total disbursements above N2 trillion.”

However,  Delta State maintained the lead among states of the Federation with the highest share of FAAC allocation during the period under review with N108.7billion, while Osun received the lowest amount of N10.09billion.

The Report which revealed an interesting pattern of wide disparities in disbursements received by states also noted that the disbursements by a majority of the states (27 states) in the first half of 2019 were lower than disbursements in the first half of 2018. Thus, 75% of the states received higher revenue in the first half of 2018 than the first half of 2019.

The post In Six Months, Federal, States, Lgs Share N3,84trn FAAC first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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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.”

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