The Chairman of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Oyo State Chapter, Prince Abass Aleshinloye has berated the state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde over his decision to conduct Local Government elections in first quarter of next year.
In a press statement signed by him, the ALGON chairman described the decision as an act of impunity for disobeying court that asked him to maintain status quo of retaining the LGs and LCDAs chairmen in office.
The statement reads:
“Mr. Governor, Government does not run on threats and illegalities.
“His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, recently marked his one month in office, we congratulate him if he feels he wants to be assessed by calendar month but not by explicit vision and remarkable achievements.
“We, however wish to advise His Excellency, that it is time for serious business of governance. A serious government does not run on threats and subtle blackmail of ‘I will expose, I will reveal…. Mr. Governor has every legal and administrative machinery at his disposal to name and shame those, who in his imagination, abused their offices in the previous administration.
“This is enough self distraction for the administration since any insinuation comes with a response.
“Mr. Governor should be informed that when a toddler is in the habit of peeing indiscriminately, he should expect to be cautioned and corrected. It is for the toddler’s own good and that of his family.
We hope that the import of this will not be lost on the government as a guide. We wish him well.
“Mr. Governor’s faux Pas on Local Government in Oyo State.
In his media chat, the governor carefully forgot to tell the public that there is a subsisting judgment of a court of record, as well as a pending appeal he claims to have filed at the Court of Appeal.
“Again the trial court has further issued an order to maintain the status quo ante, the order which his government has been flouting with impunity and his spokesmen are deriding as ‘arrangee’, and for which committal proceedings have been issued against the errant officers of state. Yet his Excellency seeks to assure the public that he would respect the Judiciary while deriding the institution and its pronouncements.
“At the same time he promised that he would conduct local government election first quarter of next year even when he knows that the tenure of elected local government officials lapses in 2021.
“It is scary that the Governor of the pace setter state, by this pre – emptive pronouncement, is indirectly already telling us that he would not obey the judgement of the court nor that of any appellate court if it does not favor his government agenda.
“While proclaiming deceptively that he would obey the court on one hand, at the same time, he is flouting existing orders now. He has also let us into his mind that he would not obey an unfavorable court judgement.
“Clearly we are poised for perhaps the most turbulent of administrations whose head by his public utterances has declared war on the rule of law, the judiciary and all that is civil and democratic in our state.
“Our case comes up soon. We wish to assure the people of our dear state that we all have fought bigger tyrants in the past, and this one also will come to pass. We remain committed to defending grassroots democracy, rule of law, peace and good governance in Oyo state”, the statement reads.
