The sacked All Progressives Congress (APC) local government chairmen in Oyo State have been told to stop attempting to preempt the Supreme Court as regards the awaited judgment of the court on local government councils in the state.
A socio-political group in the state, Oyo Kajola Group (OKG), gave this warning on Wednesday, describing a recent statement credited to the sacked chairmen which tried to discredit the planned local government elections in the state, as misguided and distasteful.
The group, in a statement signed by its media coordinator, Adebayo Ayandele, indicated that Makinde and OYSIEC have not erred in law by trying to conduct the local government poll since there is no injunction barring such exercise.
“We should ask the sacked chairmen why they are trying to preempt the Supreme Court on the pending matter at the Supreme Court.
“It asked the sacked Chairmen to realise that what is on trial before the apex court is the illegality of their tenure perpetrated by the previous government.
“Is there any injunction barring OYSIEC from conducting the polls? No,” the statement said.
The group accused the APC of trying to fly a kite in order to jeopardise the forthcoming local government elections, stating that by their actions, the party has shown itself as the real enemies of the state.
It further accused the sacked local government chairmen of showing signs of desperation and making futile attempts to remain relevant after it had become clear that the people of the state have forgotten about them.
According to the group, Governor Makinde deserved commendations for following the dictates of the Nigerian Constitution by allowing the conduct of a local government election at this time.
It added that unlike the previous administration, which perpetuated illegality for seven years and at the end of the day also illegally foisted the sacked chairmen on local councils, Makinde is following the 1999 Constitution, the Makinde administration is allowing a level playing field and following the dictates of internal democracy on the council polls.
The statement read: “A recent statement credited to one Ayodeji Abass-Alesinloye, who is parading himself as chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Oyo State, on the planned local government election in the state is distasteful and misguided.
“It is important to note that efforts to conduct the local government election less than two years into Governor Makinde’s first term in office is commendable. The governor has demonstrated that he is a democrat and someone who can be trusted to keep the sanctity of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Unlike in the previous administration whereby the local government election was conducted in the seventh year of a two-term administration, albeit based on illegality, Governor Makinde has always made it clear that he respects democracy and would want elections at the grassroots as soon as achievable.
“In fact, but for the legal bottlenecks orchestrated by the sacked Chairmen, which enemies of the people of the state threw up at every point, the local government election would have been conducted since the first quarter of 2020.
“However, we have seen that individuals like Abass-Alesinloye and his party, APC, do not desire the best for the grassroots of Oyo State, that is why they are throwing unnecessary tantrums over the planned local government election.”
“We encourage Governor Makinde and OYSIEC not to pay attention to individuals like Abass-Alesinloye and one Hakeem Alao, who is an unknown element holed up in faraway Oman, who has been trying desperately to sabotage the local government elections.
“The people of Oyo State are behind the governor and OYSIEC and we are confident that this election will hasten the development of the state and fast-track the delivery of the governor’s commitment to transform the state,” the group added.
