Minister to challenge Oyo gov over LG polls

Governor Minister Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi and the of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, are on a collision course over failure of the Oyo State government to conduct local government elections in the state.

The minister had vowed to, at all cost, checkmate what he described as “an act of impunity by the governor,” who had spent almost six years in office. “This impunity must stop; it must be checkmated at all costs,” Barrister Shittu said at the weekend, while featuring on a live television programme ‘Bottom Line,’ on MITV, Ibadan. T h e minister expressed concern over Governor Ajimobi’s “continued appointment of handpicked people to serve as caretaker chairmen.”

Shittu said the refusal of the governor to conduct local government election “is not only a disservice to the people of the state, but also a disservice to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

According to him, “Facts should be said. The stakeholders are frustrated by the way the executive has been treating them. The governor does not even deem it fit to invite me to the stakeholders meeting; this issue of impunity must be checkmated,” he said.

Governor Ajimobi had last Friday in Ibadan inaugurated caretaker chairmen for the 55 local governments and local council development areas in the state.

He also assured people of the state that elections into the 33 local governments and 35 local council development areas (LCDAs) would be held as soon as the suit against the election was settled.

A Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice John Tsoho, had in January 2017 ordered the Oyo State Independent Election Commission (OYSIEC) not to proceed with its plan to conduct the election earlier slated for February 11.

The order was sequel to a motion ex-parte filed on behalf of 16 Baales from Oyo Federal Constituency by their lawyer, Mr Ahmed Raji, SAN, pursuant to the creation of 35 LCDAs in the state.