The leadership of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON, has condemned the dissolution of the Oyo State Independent National Electoral Commission, OYSIEC, Board by Governor Seyi Makinde.
In a statement by its chairman, Prince Abass Alesinloye, ALGON asked its members to boycott the probe panel instituted by Makinde to probe the activities of the sacked chairmen.
It would be recalled that Makinde had announced the dissolution of OYSIEC board, promising to offset the allowance and salary of members of the board.
The dissolved OYSIEC board was inaugurated in 2016 and had close to two years to complete their tenure.
This came a month after the governor sacked council chairmen in the state.
The statement reads:
OYSIEC Dissolution, Governor Makinde’s Continuing Illegalities and Frivolous NAIRA Rain: Oyo State Government, an Embodiment of Lawlessness and Arbitrariness.
- The illegal dissolution of Constitutional Commissions in Oyo state, namely Civil Service Commission, Judicial Service Commission, Local Government Service Commission and Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) by the Governor of Oyo State, statutory bodies with a five year tenure, is yet another faulty and illegal step in the series of lawlessness and executive rascality the government of Oyo state is now known for.
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 including OYSIEC 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.
Your Excellency, illegalities cannot be monetized and commercialized.
Monetization of lawlessness does not cure your illegality. Your decision to attempt to bribe members of OYSIEC and other commissions in lieu of their truncated tenure which you too agree is a statutory period fixed by law, is bare faced corruption, very ridiculous, morally reprehensible and an unconstitutional act that cannot stand the test of law. Are taxpayers in Oyo state now to bear the brunt of this recklessness? If you pay the commission members their 5 years wages at once for only 2 years spent and proceed to appoint new people to the same commissions during this same tenure arbitrarily truncated, are we as citizens to pay wages and emoluments to 2 different set of persons for the same term?Where govt everywhere frowns at ghost workers, it seems we are legalizing it here paying wages to 2 sets of people for holding the same office at the same time! We thought his excellency claimed Oyo state was bankrupt!
Is this how he intends to plunder our commonwealth? Sacking these Commissions is reprehensible enough, but proposing to pay them off for a full tenure not yet spent,yet planning to appoint new members to the same office for the same tenure is brazen robbery of the state treasury by this administration. Now we know who is leading the state into bankruptcy. Can the Governor justifiably demand prudence, probity from workers in the state when he is laying the wrong example? If a worker is found collecting 2 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 seems this governor is one quickly becoming reputed 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. He did not embark on such an illegality as this. We thought this introduced a new spirit into governance in Nigeria,but clearly our Governor still lives in the unfortunate past.
We therefore join the good people of Oyo state to demand a reversal of such poor and reckless executive decision.
- We also call on ALGON Members to ignore Gov. Makinde’s Hangmen constituted into an illegal PDP membered panel inaugurated to probe local government councils.
Before his dissolution of OYSIEC and the state commissions, Gov. Makinde set up a contraption not known to any law of Oyo State and Nigeria. Gov Makinde’s Committee set up purportedly to probe the accounts of elected local government administrations in the state is a breach of the 1999 constitution, an affront on a subsisting court judgement and order, and a reckless executive ambush with the sole aim to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.
ALGON hereby calls on all chairmen, secretaries, councillors and supervisors to reject and boycott the insidious, illegal sittings, and activities of Governor Makinde’s Hangmen panel.
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 Auditor general office and its activities are also regularly monitored accordingly.
We are not answerable to an adhoc contraption but to constitutional institutions properly established by law. We shall make ourselves available to legally constituted audit committees, as and when due, after a successful completion of all our pending cases in court.
Our advice to the governor again is that government is a very serious business, the responsibility and people’s expectations are very high. So, it is not for time wasting for any frivolous political gambit after elections. Government runs on laws not on executive, reckless spontaneity and lawlessness. No matter who you are, the Law is above you. That is the beauty of a constitutional democracy. In Oyo state, Governor Makinde must submit himself to the law of the land, our constitution and not to turn our dear state into a lawless state.
PRINCE ABASS ALESHINLOYE ,CHAIRMAN ALGON, OYO STATE
