When Gov Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde came to power in May 29, 2019, Mr governor believed that the only way to announce to Oyo people that another marshal was in the state was to sack the duly elected APC council chairmen and councillors.
Of course, sacking of council chairmen and councillors has for long become the tradition and norm that each newly sworn-in governor must yield to and indulge to show how unjustifiably they can wield the power that is handed over to him. But one mistake Gov Makinde made was that he didn’t study what was being put on the ground before he impatiently sacked those councilmen..
Some of us came out to condemn Mr governor’s arbitrary use of power for we knew the financial burden this could place on Oyo state whose allocation and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) were so meagre they hardly could cover the expenses of the state.
Mr governor sacked the L G chairmen and councillors who were elected in accordance with the constitution before the end of their tenure without carefully studying the situation keenly. He appointed caretaker chairmen, those who were not recognized by the constitution, to rule over Oyo people. What was really in Gov Makinde’s mind? Did he think that the law would overlook his high-handedness?
Was there no one to brief Mr governor the legal implication of the action he took? Perhaps no one was there to tell Gov Makinde the procedures his predecessor, Late Abiola Ajimobi, had taken and perfected before those sacked council chairmen and councillors were elected? The most painful of the whole story was that the then Chief of Staff to Gov Makinde, Chief Bisi Ilaka, who was part of the decision, was a legal consultant who should have known better.
If Gov Makinde had allowed the sacked L.G chairmen and councillors to complete their tenures, there wouldn’t have been double payments for the same duties that would have been handled by the sacked chairmen and councillors. And Oyo state wouldn’t have been put into the problem of earmarking billions of naira – which would have been designated and reserved to cater for other projects among many projects – to pay the sacked councilmen.
Now that the court had directed and ordered Gov Makinde – despite all the methods he employed to shift the burden of payment to his potential successor – to pay all the due entitlements, t’s worthy to salute the courage and patience of the sacked councilmen, those who made sure that they saw the case to the end. They believed that the only way to get justice was to resort to legal action rather than to go violent. Their action will encourage and assure the electorate that their votes cannot anymore be declared null and void singlehandedly by anyone irrespective of his/her position in society.
Obviously, it’s appropriate to tell Mr governor to obey the court verdict by paying, without any delay, the entitlements of these chairmen and councillors rather than incurring unnecessary fine which could further put more burden on the state treasury. After all, the Accountant General of Oyo state had faulted the governor’s claim that there wasn’t enough funds to meet this obligation.
Undoubtedly this victory is not only for the dogged L.G chairmen and the councillors. It’s a victory for the people and a victory for democracy.
Ademola ‘Bablow’ Babalola
