The sacked local government and local council development areas chairmen under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments (ALGON) in Oyo State have rejected an offer by the state government to pay them off as an out-of-court settlement in the ongoing litigations over their sack.
The government legal team had made the offer in writing to them as its own condition to settle out-of-court. There are minimum of two cases in court over their sack.
They were sacked by Governor Seyi Makinde on May 29, 2019. After he was sworn in as the number citizen of the pacesetter state.
Governor Makinde, however, appealed against the judgment. But he appointed caretaker chairmen in November last year while the appeal was being heard.
In response, the chairmen and their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), petitioned the Presidency, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) over the injustice meted out to them.
The AGF advised the governor to obey a Supreme Court judgment, which held that governors and houses of assembly have no right to sack elected local government councils.
When the state government ignored the advice, the AGF directed the IGP to ensure reinstatement of the elected council members.
In response, the state government approached the court and obtained an order restraining the sacked chairmen from forcefully returning to office. After a hearing, the state government indicated willingness to settle out-of-court.
Oyo State Government said last that it was ready to see through the case despite the grandstanding.
A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Taiwo Adisa, said:
“Let it be accordingly stated that the government of Oyo State is ready to pursue its case in court against ALGON.
“The decision by the state to pursue the path of peace on the council issue is well thought out.”
“Whatever was proposed by the Oyo State counsel was in accordance with the standard practice in negotiations and are defensible in law.
“That the same ALGON which proposed the out-of-court settlement in the first instance is turning around to grandstand on this issue is a disservice to the good people of Oyo State.
“We, however, await the date in court when all issues would be laid bare.”
The chairmen came up with settlement terms, but the state government had none. On returning to another meeting last week, the government legal team came up with the offer to pay the elected council members off for the remaining two years of their tenure.
But on Friday, ALGON rejected the offer in its position paper, saying receiving a pay-out for the rest of their tenure would amount to a disservice to the people of their local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) and the entire people of Oyo State “to collect financial compensation as proposed in lieu of our constitutionally-guaranteed tenure.”
It added that accepting calculated salary and severance allowance would amount to aiding the breach of the constitution and might also lead to violation of anti-corruption laws since their tenure was not yet lived out.
Appreciating Makinde for eventually acknowledging their mandate as having been democratically-elected, ALGON said it would not oppose appointment of supervisory councillors and liaison officers for each local government, who would work with them to complete their tenure in the interest of the entire state and the growth of democracy.
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