Oyo Assembly nullifies sack of council bosses

Oyo state house of Assembly on Tuesday nullified the purported suspension of the Executive Chairman, Irepo Local Government Area, Mr Asifu Adediran-Sulaiman and his vice, Mrs Ojedele Victoria for breaching the law guiding the process.

The Assembly which described the suspension process as inconclusive also noted that pending the time the House Committee on local government Affairs investigates and reports back to it, the suspended chairman and his vice remains the constitutionally recognized leaders of the council and must be allowed to perform their duties.

The council bosses were last week suspended by the council lawmakers who accused him of gross misconduct, high-handedness and lack of respect for party supremacy.

The suspension was conveyed in an April 25 letter detailing the allegations against the chairman for which he was allegedly found guilty. The letter was signed by seven out of the 10 lawmakers in the council.

The disapproval by the House follows a letter written by the Irepo LG councilors to the state lawmakers notifying them as well as seeking their approval of the suspension of the chairman and his vice.

But, addressing journalists after Tuesday plenary, Speaker Olagunju Ojo urged the people of the council area to remain calm, noting that the House Committee has been mandated to handle the issue procedurally in line with the Oyo Assembly law 2001 which the councilors refused to comply with.

The speaker said “The House has mandated the committee on LG to handle the issue procedurally in line with the law of Oyo Assembly passed in 2001 that Irepo LG failed to comply with in its procedures at suspending the chairman and vice chairman.

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“The House has asked the LG committee to investigate the issues leveled against them. We urged the people to remain calm and maintain status quo.”

Buttressing the speaker’s remarks, the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Mr Joshua Oyebamiji added that the Assembly law of 2001 on removal and or suspension of elected officials, especially chairmen, vice chairmen emphasis certain roles to be played by the Councilors, the Chief Judge and even the House of Assembly, which were not followed as stipulated.

He said “So, the suspension is inconclusive because the other two tiers of government have not been involved. We punctuated an error and the committee on LG will look at the nitty gritty of the issues and if the procedures is to continue, the CJ and Assembly have to be involved.

“So, they (the chairman and vice chairman) should go back to their offices until the committee reports back to the house. The elected chairmen are still the lawful officials.”

The committee has one week to report back to the house.

According to the purported sack letter issued the council bosses, the LG lawmakers said they received a letter of ‘no confidence’ by the party executive dated April 24, 2019 in which he was accused of insubordination and anti-party activities. The party leaders were accused the chairman of open declaration that he is no more a member of the APC.

The council lawmakers also accused the suspended LG boss of running the council “as if it was his personal business, and disregard for the rule of law.”

They also rated as poor, his relationship with the Head of Local Government Administration (HLA) and other career officers and workers in the council.