Thugs abduct council boss in Oyo

By Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

 

Hostility heightened in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital on Wednesday as the executive chairman of Afijio Local Government area of the state, Hon. Samuel Aderemi, was kidnapped by rampaging thugs, who stormed the council in an attempt to prevent the sacked Local government chairmen and councillors under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) from resuming.

Aderemi, after beaten to stupor by the hoodlums, was whisked away in a bus to an unknown destination.

He was however later rescued after two hours by security agents.

The victim, according to the sacked ALGON Chairman, Hon. Abass Aleshinloye is recuperating in an undisclosed hospital.

Similar scenarios played out in Ibadan North, Ibadan North East Local Governments and Omi Apata Local Council Council Development Authority ( LCDA) where thugs had a field day, causing mayhem.

Despite the presence of security agents comprising the police and Civil Defense men, injuries were inflicted on party members of the APC and Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), who engaged in free- for- all .

Trouble started on Monday when the sacked chairmen and councillors make good their threat to resume within the 68 local government and LCDA Secretariats .

Governor Seyi Makinde, shortly after his inauguration last May, dissolved the chairmen and asked them to hand over to the most senior career officer in their respective councils, after about eight months of legal battle with the state government.

The council chairmen were elected on May 12, 2018 in local government election conducted by former Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

Information gathered from all the 33 local government areas and 35 Local Council Development Areas in the state showed that majority of the chairmen had resumed into their offices except a few.

However, there were pockets of violence in Ibadan South East and Ibadan North East councils where some hoodlums allegedly led by a leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers ( NURTW) in the state, Alhaji Lamidi Mukaila a.k.a. Auxiliary, reportedly hijacked the situation.

The leadership of the National Union of Local Government Employees ( NULGE) on Monday asked its members to stay at home , locking all the gates and offices to the council secretariats for security of lives of members.

In Oluyole Local Government Area, Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshiloye who is the chairman of ALGON, as well as the council chairman , resumed office and held a prayer session with some of his followers.

Abass-Aleshiloye , the Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), had insisted that he and his members were ready to cooperate with Makinde to move the state forward at the grassroots level.

Speaking with The Nation on Wednesday, Hon. Abass-Aleshiloye maintained that he and his members had employed all peaceful and legal options to reclaim their mandates eight months after they were sacked.

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He added that they are resolved to resume their offices was premised on Supreme Court judgement which declared that no Governor has the right to unjustly dissolve elected chairmen.

Abass-Aleshiloye, who urged local government workers to resume to their various offices, urged the people of the state to remained law abiding and not to panic. He alleged that all efforts to meet with the Governor by the dissolved chairmen have been meeting brick walls.

He added that it was unfortunate that it is only Makinde that remained adamant in the return of the local government chairmen in his state, stressing that local government chairmen who were illegally sacked in Ogun, Ekiti, and Kwara have been returned.

Despite an Oyo state High Court order restraining the sacked council chairmen from taking over the council, the situation yesterday showed that the sacked chairmen have not obeyed the order