Makinde, NULGE and Oyo council debacle

The dissolution of the local governments in Oyo State by Governor Seyi Makinde has pitched him against the National Union of Local Government Employees (nulge), which has directed its members to down tools. How will the crisis be resolved? asks Southwest Bureau Chief bisi oladele

 

The national leadership of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has directed its members in the 33 local governments and 35 local council development areas (LCDA) in Oyo State to withdraw their services pending the resolution of the political logjam arising from the sacking of the elected councils and their replacement by a caretaker chairmen by Governor Seyi Makinde.

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu had last Thursday directed the Oyo State Police Commissioner, Mr Shina Olukolu, to initiate appropriate actions that will reinstate the sacked chairmen and councillors.

The IGP had also, in a letter dated January 23, 2020, asked the Oyo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Akin Oke, to liaise with Olukolu to facilitate the implementation of the directive of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

The AGF had, in a January 14 letter, advised the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice to advise Governor Makinde to sack the recently appointed caretaker chairmen and reinstate the elected councils.

He based his legal advice on the judgment of the Supreme Court which stated that governors and houses of assemblies do not have the power to sack democratically elected local government councils.

If carried out, the directive of the NULGE national leadership will bring governance at the local government level to a halt, as no meaningful activity can take place.

The way the event is unfolding, all sides to the crisis have found themselves in a quagmire that will require some negotiations to resolve.

 

How the crisis developed:

The last election conducted into local government offices in Oyo State was during the administration of former governor Rashidi Ladoja between 2003 and 2007.

Ladoja’s successor Adebayo Alao-Akala was unable to conduct election due to protracted litigation by the sacked elected council members against the government and the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) board.

The litigations dragged till 2018 when Governor Abiola Ajimobi dispensed with them, according to the Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye.

 

The 2018 local government election:

The immediate past administration of Governor Abiola Ajimobi conducted election into the 33 local governments and 35 LCDAs on May 12, 2018. The poll was boycotted by many political parties, paving the way for the APC to clear all the seats.

The major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has maintained that there was a high court judgment that restrained the state electoral commission from conducting the election and that it was for that reason the party did not participate in the election.

The issue of the delineation of the LCDAs generated crisis in some communities.  But the APC insisted that there was no issue.

 

2019 general election:

With the triumph of the PDP in the governorship election, the Makinde-led administration succeeded Ajimobi, but the local government councils are under the control of the APC.

Before the governor was sworn in, the elected chairmen dragged the state government, the House of Assembly and the state electoral commission to court, seeking an order restraining the first two from dissolving them, and the third from conducting a fresh election before the end of their three-year tenure in 2021.

An Oyo State high court granted their prayers in a May last year judgment.

 

Makinde’s tactics:

After Makinde was inaugurated as the new governor, he ignored the judgment and announced the sack of the councils, just two hours after he was sworn in. He said their election was illegal because the 35 LCDAs were not recognized by the constitution.

The elected chairmen, under the aegis of ALGON, dragged the governor to court for contempt. The appeal is still being heard. The appellate court has fixed February 19 for the adoption of addresses by parties in the case.

But, while the appeal is still ongoing, Makinde sacked members of the state electoral commission with a firm promise to pay them off.

But, the OYSIEC Board members have since challenged their sack in court.

The court case made the governor realize that he could no longer deliver on his promise to organize another local government election in the first quarter of this year.

Following the sacking of the elected chairmen and councilors, the governor appointed caretaker committees to take govern the councils.

 

ALGON’s reaction:

In response to the development ALGON disagreed, declaring the action illegal. It said Makinde’s administration was building illegality upon illegality because it was illegal to have sacked elected councils in the first place.

When the government stood its ground, ALGON and the state chapter of the APC sent a petition on the governor’s action to the Presidency, the Office of the AGF and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

The AGF responded by advising Makinde to obey the Supreme Court judgments on the issue. After the governor failed to heed the advice, he sent another letter to the IGP, directing him to effect reinstatement of the sacked elected council members.

The IGP also followed with a January 23 directive to the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State to ensure reinstatement of the elected council chairmen and councillors.

ALGON Chairman, Abass-Aleshinloye said members of the association were taking legitimate bids to reclaim their mandate and to defend the rule of law which they swore to uphold as it is enshrined in the constitution.

Read Also: Four years after, Makinde recalls sacked BCOS staff

 

While addressing reporters at a gathering a fortnight ago, Abass-Aleshinloye said: “You will recall that shortly after the inauguration of Seyi Makinde as the governor of Oyo State on May 29, 2019, he announced through his then yet to be sworn-in Chief of Staff, Chief Bisi Ilaka, the dissolution of the democratically elected local government councils and Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs.

It will be recalled that we came into office through elections which were conducted during the regime of Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

“By Chief Ilaka’s illegal declaration, we were directed to hand over to our respective Heads of Local Government Administration (HLA) or the most senior directors in our local government areas and councils. The order we never and we will never comply with because it was illegal and unconstitutional.

“We considered the steps taken by the Governor as illegal, undemocratic, a violation of the rule of law and also contempt of a subsisting court injunction against the purported sack.

In its defence, the state government said the local government election that was conducted by the last dispensation was illegal because it contravened court order.

The government-run by Makinde has been asked since then to produce and give evidence of the so-called “court order” they repeatedly claimed restrained the conduct of local government election organized during the tenure of  Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, but all this was to no avail. The order only exists in their imagination.

“I will like to tell you today as ever before, that the continuous disregard of the Supreme Court judgment and High Court judgment that forbid dissolution of democratically elected local government functionaries by the governor shows clearly a flagrant disobedience and abuse of rule of law by the government led by Seyi Makinde.

“As if were not enough, the governor in his usual characteristics, displayed yet another contempt  to highest court of the land with the swearing-in of the outlawed caretaker committee to forcefully take over our seats that were not vacant by law.

“With this and other related reasons, we want to reiterate our stand and position by continuously saying NO and reject these serial illegalities in its entirety which we consider as a crude assault on our democracy and a rape of our constitution, especially when the appeal filed by the state government against the High Court judgment is yet to be determined.

“With all our hues and cries, Governor Seyi Makinde went ahead to inaugurate caretaker chairmen for the councils, not even minding the petition written to Present Muhammadu Buhari , leadership of National Assembly and all well-meaning Nigerians by both the ALGON and Oyo State Chapter of APC.

“We want to use this gathering to let the whole world know that there is never in the history of this country, Nigeria, where a governor will wield such an enormous power to the extent of holding to ransom the executive offices in all the local government councils for more than six months.”

But in response to the letter directing the reinstatement of the elected officers, the state government said the AGF lacks the power to overrule the decision of a state in federalism.

It said only a court can make such pronouncement. It spoke through its Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Prof. Oyelowo Oyewo.

 

Employees’ perspective:

Shortly after the council members were sacked in May, ALGON wrote HLAs, directors at the councils and commercial banks, warning them against signing or honouring bank cheques for the local governments and the LCDAs without the authority of the sacked officers.

The association attached a copy of the judgment which restrained the state government from sacking them, insisting that they were still the legal occupants of the seats.

ALGON copied the Oyo State Police Command the same letter for its notice.

With the AGF’s directive that elected council chairmen and councillors should be reinstated, it became pertinent for the NULGE leadership to take steps to protect its members from the legal and political debacle, hence Saturday’s directive to its members to withdraw their services until the politicians find a lasting solution to the lingering crisis.