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Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Local government is the lowest among the three tiers of government and it is the closest to the grassroots. There are 774 local governments in the country, and 33 among them are in Oyo State in the South West of Nigeria.
Each of the local governments is further divided into wards and there are 351 electoral wards in Oyo State. The local governments are headed by chairmen, while the elected councillors that always represent wards usually form the legislative arm of the council.
Under normal circumstances, small local matters are the responsibilities of local governments, including primary healthcare centres, dispensaries, public health, waste disposal, local roads and footpaths, parks, libraries, tax collection and so on. Also, it is standard practice that the local governments usually work together with the state governments to execute larger projects.
But the third tier of government in Oyo State is currently under threat as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that took over the reigns of government on May 29, 2019, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) that administered the pace setter state for eight years are currently at loggerheads over the soul of the local government system in the state.
Many residents of the state, in recent time, have been bombarded with claims and counter-claims between the two parties over the third tier of government in the state. The APC is claiming that it is still in control based on the council poll conducted in May 2018 and the tenure of the chairmen that were elected then would elapse in May 2021.
The local government poll was conducted into the 33 local governments recognised by the Constitution of Nigeria, and the then newly-created 35 local council development areas (LCDAs), making a total of 68. All the LGAs and LCDAs were under the control of APC.
But the PDP-led administration under Governor Seyi Makinde with the backing of Oyo State House of Assembly sacked the chairmen in the evening of May 29, 2019. The sacked chairmen were directed to hand over to Heads of Local Government Administration. The PDP stated that the law that established Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) only empowers the commission to conduct election into the local governments and not LCDAs, claiming that the fact that the election was conducted into the LGAs and LCDAs has invalidated the election.
But the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) under the leadership of Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, the sacked chairman of Oluyole Local Government, between the time that APC lost the governorship poll to PDP in March 2019 and May of the same year, went to court to obtain a judgment that was said to have prevented the governor of the state and the House of Assembly from sacking them.
The judgment was said to have been served on the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, and the ex-Speaker, Gunju Ojo, few days to the end of their tenure.
Meanwhile, Governor Makinde has said the proper thing that should have been done was that OYSIEC should have conducted election only into the 33 local governments, while the government should have appointed sole administrators into the LCDAs. The PDP, as gathered, did not participate in the election that brought the sacked chairmen into office, based on perceived illegalities.
Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, said after the swearing-in ceremony of the caretaker chairmen appointed by Governor Makinde that “We respond to the continuous disregard of the Supreme Court judgment and High Court judgment forbidding the dissolution of democratically elected local government functionaries by the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, and weep for the slide our state and the rule of law is witnessing in his hands.
“The governor again displayed his despise to the highest court of the land with the swearing – in of illegal caretaker committees, an illegal contraption and a body of power usurpers that is unknown to our law as proclaimed by the highest court of the land.
“The Oyo State Government and their apologists have tried to excuse their recklessness by alluding to the fact that the Supreme Court judgment was on Ekiti State Local Councils and in their myopic view inapplicable to them in Oyo State. Such is the level of limited understanding of our current leaders. Even if they do not know what ‘stare decisis’ means in law, the Attorney General who has stood by while illegality thrives in our state, ought to have explained the importance of a Supreme Court pronouncement to the governor.
“It is trite that the declaration of the Supreme Court on any point of law is binding on all courts and in all states where similar issues arise. This was why the case of INAKOJU V ADELEKE on the impeachment of Governor Ladoja established the principles of law governing impeachment in any state, and the decision of the Supreme Court on this case effectively put an end to the reckless spate of irregular impeachments under a former PDP leadership in our country.
“It is therefore begging the question to expect the Supreme Court to pronounce on the issue of Caretaker Chairmen in all 36 states individually when it already pronounced conclusively in the Ekiti case. We are not surprised at the empty justification, for even the devil justified his sin before God.
“The weak arguments of a controversial stay of execution did not set aside the pronouncement of the Oyo State High Court. Indeed the declarations made by the High Court judgment of Oyo State, declaring caretaker leadership over local councils an illegality cannot be stayed as the law still remains sacrosanct that declaratory judgements cannot be stayed.
“We reject these serial illegalities which are a crude assault on our democracy, and rape of our constitution, more so, when the appeal filed by the state government against the High Court judgment is still pending.
“ALGON wishes to inform our members to remain steadfast in the defence of our constitutional rights as we await further directives on resolutions reached on the latest breach. We stand fast on our democratic mandate freely and fairly given by the good people of our respective local government and development areas, and undertake to remain peaceful even in the face of extreme threats and provocation by the Government of Oyo State. We remain in office by law.”
Abass-Aleshinloye also followed up with an open letter to the newly appointed caretaker chairmen for the local governments, bankers to all Oyo State Local Government Councils and LCDAs, and other stakeholders. The letter cautioned the caretaker chairmen, bankers to all Oyo State Local Government Councils, LCDAs, civil servants in the state and all local government staff across all council secretariats, “to strongly avoid being put under duress by the Oyo State Government to partake in another man’s sin, by not allowing themselves to be used to further and foist what is clearly an illegal and fraudulent administration over our local government councils and LCDAs in the state.
“Over the past few months , we had consistently warned the Oyo State government, and the governor of Oyo State to respect the rule of law and desist from the path of illegality he was treading and being railroaded onto by politicians who are hellbent on dividing our local government councils and constituencies as their political fiefdoms and their spoils of war.
Similarly, the spokesman for APC in the state, Dr. AbdulAzeez Olatunde, also said recently that “It gladdens one to read that Governor Seyi Makinde, being quoted to have said that he would not be ashamed to reverse himself where he had erred, hence our advice to the governor to consider toeing the line of nobility and statesmen by allowing the sacked, elected local government chairmen and councillors to exercise their mandate.
“Allowing the elected officials to exercise their mandate does not diminish your power as the Chief Executive of Oyo State, but would rather cast you to the league of celebrated global brand like Nelson Mandela, Pandit Nehru and Kwame Nkrumah of blessed memory, whose legacies immortalised them.”
In a swift response, the Publicity Secretary of PDP in Oyo State, Akeem Olatunji, described members of the sacked local government chairmen under the aegis of ALGON as mere noisemakers who want to keep benefiting from illegal conducts.
According to him, the sacked chairmen that have been raising issues about composition of the local governments leadership have been swimming against the tide of public opinion in the state, adding that there was every need to reconstitute the leadership in the local governments and the LCDAs, noting that the step was in the right direction and in satisfaction of the yearning of a teeming majority of residents in the state.
He noted that Abass-Aleshinloye served as caretaker chairmen for about six years before his purported election in May 2018, saying if financial institutions could honour his signatures then as a caretaker chairman, the law does not prevent the banks from honouring the signatures of the newly appointed caretaker chairmen as well.
According to him, Governor Makinde has promised to ensure the conduct of local government election in the first quarter of 2020, describing the governor as a man of his words. He, however, advised APC not to dissipate their energy on the issue at hand, but should put their house in order and prepare for the local government poll that would be conducted in 2020.
Olatunji stated that the PDP has noted the kind of language being used by APC to describe Governor Makinde, saying “As a party, the PDP wishes to tell the governor to ignore the latest rants of the sacked illegal council chairmen. It’s another tactic to hold the people of the state to ransom by crippling governance at the grassroots.
Olatunji contended further that the purported rant by the sacked chairmen was medicine after death, because the circumstances that led to their sack were different from what they have been portraying to the unsuspecting public, saying “they got into office through illegality and wanton disobedience to court order and that their election or more or less undemocratic coronation could not stand.”
The PDP spokesperson noted that Abass-Aleshinloye, who has been speaking on behalf of the sacked chairmen, “and his co-travellers have become jobless irritants, acting like rambunctious children and looking for every opportunity to seek relevance, which has long left them following the exit of their party from government.
Another significant event in the battle of wits was the threat by Abass-Aleshinloye that the elected chairmen that have been sacked by the government would resume by force. It was the case that the Supreme Court laid to rest, the controversies over the March 9, 2019 governorship poll in the state, by affirming the election of Governor Makinde as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
But the Commissioner of Police in the state, Shina Olukolu, took charge immediately to prevent breakdown of law and order. He warned the sacked chairmen against precipitating violence, adding that “The police wish to reiterate that the command will not fold its arms or stand by, while any group of persons engages in acts that will lead to breach of peace or threat to peace and tranquility in the state. For the avoidance of doubt, it is the responsibility of the police to protect lives and property, enforce law and order, arrest, investigate and prosecute offenders.
“Any person or group of persons that takes any action that will lead to infraction must be ready to face the consequences of their actions. To the criminally minded individuals or social miscreants who may want to seize the opportunity to cause mayhem, they are warned to steer clear or face the wrath of the law.”
Olukolu advised the parties concerned to allow peace to reign in Oyo State and pursue their grievances to its logical conclusion in the law courts.
But the sacked chairmen did not show up as they threatened. But on the fateful day, a combined team of security agencies was stationed at the entrance of all the local government secretariats in the state to prevent violence.
