A senior advocate and All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Adeniyi Akintola, has faulted the sack of elected council chairmen by Governor Seyi Makinde.
This was just as he said that there was nothing wrong with the election that produced them.
OYOINSIGHT.COM recalls that Makinde had sacked council chairmen elected by former governor Abiola Ajimobi few hours after he assumed office. He also sacked members of the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission, OYSIEC. The sacked chairmen have however instituted cases in courts while Makinde has paid off members of the OYSIEC.
Akintola who, OYOINSIGHT.COM understands, has decided to challenge what he described as illegality, explained that only councillors can remove council chairmen or at the expiration of their tenure.
Speaking in a phone chat with OYOINSIGHT.COM, Akintola said that though there is nothing bad in paying off salaries of members of the OYSIEC, adding that “tax payers would bear the brunt. In a saner clime, things like that shouldn’t have happened. But here, people don’t talk. However, only councillors can remove chairmen. You cannot pay off salaries of elected council chairmen. There is no precedence. It has not even been tested up to the Supreme Court. James Ibori, in 2002, started the paying off of Judicial Service Commission members when Akpomuje took the state to court. But in the case of the pay off of council chairmen, the efficacy has not been tested. Only councillors can remove them. The removal was illegal and we are challenging that in court.”
Akintola also explained that Governor Dapo Abiodun returned council chairmen elected by his predecessors because their tenure ends in December 2019.
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