The sacked elected local government chairmen and councillors in Oyo State on Monday insisted that they had resumed in their various offices.
Mr Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) Chairman in the state, made the claim in Ibadan amidst conflicting reports from the Local Government Councils and Local Council Development Areas.
While there were reported cases of forced resumption in some council areas the sit-at-home directive of NULGE to its members had prevented others from accessing their offices.
But Abass-Aleshinloye insisted that the resumption in office of the council executives after an eight-month protracted faceoff with the state government was in compliance with a Supreme Court judgment.
He said: “The same thing happened in Ekiti. The governor of Ekiti reinstated these people and allowed them to complete their tenure and they finished.
“The same thing happened in Ogun. In Ogun State, they finished their tenure in December. The man allowed them to finish their tenure. Why will our own be different?
“We have our tenure to expire next year and after the expiration of our tenure, you still have about two years to conduct election. If it happens to him as governor; I, as a person will come out and fight for him.
“We are fully back in office. The days of impunity in this country are over.”
The ALGON chairman, who had earlier resumed in his office, claimed that majority of their members had resumed at their offices except the few cases where some of them were locked out.
Gov. Seyi Makinde had on assumption of office in May 2019 sacked the elected local government chairmen and councillors who had just concluded a year of their three-year tenure.
OGBOMOSOINFO reports that Mr Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, had in a letter forwarded to the state’s Attorney General recently demanded the reinstatement of the sacked local government executives.
The AGF had urged the state government to reverse itself and comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court which described dissolution of elected local government executives and inauguration of caretaker committees as unconstitutional.
Similarly, IGP Mohammed Abubakar had also in another letter urged ALGON and the State APC to liaise with the State Commissioner of Police toward initiating appropriate action on resumption.
In Ibadan West Local Council Development Area and Ibadan North-West Local Government Council, both in Ibadan metropolis, workers were not allowed into the council secretariats on Monday.
Mr Mogaji Ajadi, the Caretaker Chairman of Ibadan North-West Local Government council, said that the security men did not allow anybody to enter into the council secretariat.
“The police said they have not received signal to allow the elected officials to return to their offices,” adding also that the workers were also on ‘self-imposed strike,” Ajadi said.
Mr Bayo Titilola-Sodo, the State NULGE president, told NAN in a telephone interview that their members complied fully with the union’s sit-at-home directive to workers.
Titilola-Sodo said that they would continue to study the situation and review every report to know the next line of action.
He said that reports received so far indicated that there were few cases of forceful entry into some council secretariats.
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