The local government council chairmen who were sacked by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State at the beginning of his tenure on May 29 have said that the resolution by the state House of Assembly, on Thursday, directing them to hand over the official properties in their kitty to the councils was wrong.
Contrary to the claim by the state government on the ruling, the affected council chairmen said the Appeal Court did not sack them from office, on Wednesday, as widely circulated.
The Federal Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan had rejected the prayer of the affected chairmen to reverse their dissolution by Governor Seyi Makinde on the grounds that their cause of action was “pre-emptive, premature and speculative and therefore, failed to disclose reasonable facts.”
In response to the ruling, the state House of Assembly, on Thursday, asked the sacked chairmen of the 33 local government councils and 35 local council development areas in the state to return all official properties in their kitty to their respective councils.
The affected council chairmen, in a statement signed and made available to journalists in Ibadan on Sunday by the ALGON chairman, Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, however, said, “It has come to the notice of ALGON, Oyo State, that Oyo State House of Assembly passed a resolution recently directing all democratically elected chairmen and councilors in the state to hand over all properties of Oyo State Government in their legitimate care.”
The statement further read, “This ridiculous resolution was passed purportedly acting on the July 15 judgement of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division in a Suit CA/IB/300 Bashorun Majeed AJUWON and ORS versus governor of Oyo State and ORS.
“ALGON considers the mischievous resolution as a product of dullards instinct, legislative rascality and a deliberate misinterpretation of a simple judgment written in simple English Language, as another step by the government in its serial anarchism to impose dictatorship and culture of violence in the state since the case started over a year ago.
“Appeal Court never upheld the illegal dissolution of democratically elected local government by the state governor.
“It only allowed the appeal by the state government to challenge the High Court judgement we procured ever before Governor Seyi Makinde became governor and not our mandate because it was never a subject of appeal in the first instance.
“The judgement had nothing to do with our elections or legalise the unlawful removal by the governor. The court only said that the perpetual injunction /judgement we procured after our election on May 6th, 2019 was speculative, hence it allowed the appeal of the state to challenge the judgement and not our May 2018 election and mandate which were never speculative.
“In anyway, Appeal Court couldn’t have run contrary to the Supreme Court precedent judgement which clearly declared as illegal, null and void dissolution of elected local government by any governor or state assembly in Nigeria (as reaffirmed in Governor Fayemi and Ors versus Olubunmo and 13 others).”
It enjoined all affected chairmen and councilors, as well as the residents of the state to ignore the resolution by the state house of assembly saying they should not join the assembly in its “self imposed parliamentary confusion sauced with lies.”
