29 June 2009
Lagos — For the second time within four months of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko's assumption of office as governor of Ondo State, his government and the State House of Assembly are at daggers-drawn over the administration of the eighteen local government areas of the state. Davidson Iriekpen and James Sowole give an update on the face-off
The Ondo State House of Assembly in the very early days of the administration of Dr. Olusegun Rahman Mimiko engaged the governor in a cold war over his unilateral dissolution of the executive and the legislative arms of the 18 local government areas of the state. The governor defended his action by faulting the December 15, 2007 election that brought the local government officials to power as illegal. According to him, there were unresolved legal issues before the then Ondo State Independent National Electoral Commission (ODIEC) went ahead to conduct the election.
The dissolution of the councils raised a lot of dust within and outside the state with the House of Assembly vowing to resist it by all lawful means. The lawmakers contended that the action of the governor was contrary to the provisions of the Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Section 12 (4) (1) and (2) of the Local Government Law of Ondo State 2007 as amended.
A twist was however, added when the dissolved local government chairmen stormed their respective local government secretariats with full security provided by the Divisional Police Officers in their respective councils purportedly on the order of the Inspector General of Police who acted on the instruction of the Presidency that the ousted chairmen should resume in their respective offices.
The former chairmen were equally surprised on getting to their secretariats to meet the places virtually empty as the state branch of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), had directed its members to stay away from office in order not to be caught in the likely crossfire between the two warring parties. That directive paralysed the councils for weeks as workers heeded the directive of the Caretaker Committee for the state NULGE. Despite the resumption of the chairmen who insisted that they were not dissolved, Governor Mimiko had at a meeting held with the Directors of Local Government Administration reminded them of their role as the chief accounting officers of their respective councils.
Before the forceful resumption of the councils' chairmen, they had approached an Akure High Court seeking among others a declaration restraining the governor from dissolving them or doing anything about the councils pending the determination of the suit. Replying the originating summons, Mimiko prayed an Akure High Court to restrain all the former 18 local government Chairmen from parading themselves as Chairmen of Local Government Councils in the state.
Mimiko, who is one of the defendants in the suit Number AK/62/2009 filed by the chairmen of the 18 local governments earlier dissolved by him on March 4 also prayed the court to restrain the council bosses from taking any step(s) towards taking over the offices of the chairmen of the Local Government Councils in the state. A motion on notice filed by Mr. John Baiyeshea, SAN, who is leading nine other counsels for Mimiko hinged the ground of application on "the interest of justice, peace and order in the society to preserve the status quo in this matter pending the final hearing and determination thereof".
The governor in the counter claim to the originating summons of the erstwhile council bosses had averred that the 1st defendant (the governor) did not need to have any sanction or resolution of the Ondo State House of Assembly before taking the action taken on the 4th of March, 2009 as the Executive Governor of Ondo State with respect to the administration of local government councils in Ondo State.
He averred that the plaintiffs (former council chairmen) were never duly or legitimately elected as chairmen of the Local Government councils in Ondo State and as such can not lay claim to have at whatever time legally presided over the said local government councils. Mimiko also said that the purported elections of the plaintiffs as chairmen of local government councils in Ondo State are will and void and of no effect whatsoever;
He therefore sought a declaration that having regard to the expediencies and circumstances on ground on the assumption of office of the 1st Defendant as Executive Governor of Ondo State, the 1st Defendant was justified and entitled to take the step on 4th March, 2009 with respect to the administration of Local Government Councils in the State.
After months of prolonged legal tussle between Governor Olusegun Mimiko and elected local government officials in Ondo State, the Akure High Court Wednesday declared that the December 15, 2007 council election that produced political officers in the 18 local council areas of the state was illegal and unconstitutional. Delivering judgment on the issue, Justice Nelson Adeyanju held that the purported December 15, 2007 council polls were conducted contrary to Section 31 of the Electoral Act, 2006 which stipulated 150 days of notification to all political parties concerned.
Adeyanju said it was unfortunate that the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections in the state, did not give the 150 days notification required by law to all parties concerned before it went ahead to conduct the election.
His words: "I hold that the election was illegally and unconstitutionally conducted. It is null and void, since you cannot put something on nothing. The plaintiff's suit is hereby dismissed accordingly. I also hold that plaintiffs are restrained from conducting and parading themselves in whatever manner as the council chairmen of all the 18 local government area of the state."
The hornet's nest was stirred by Mimiko when barely two hours after the Akure High Court's judgment, he constituted and swore in the Caretaker Committees for the local government areas saying it was done in order to prevent a vacuum in the administration of the third tier of government. Mimiko stated that his government took the action after having waited for the full exercise of the rights of the parties at the courts according to its avowed deference to the rule of law and respect for the rights of all. "We commend all parties involved, particularly our teeming citizens, party members and supporters and indeed the opposition party for their patience during the long wait for justice to take its course.
"We restate that in this matter, there is no victor and no vanquished, for it is democracy in action. We ask all to remain law abiding and give all the necessary support to the newly appointed Chairmen of Caretaker Committees, he said.
The names of the Caretaker Chairmen as released by the office of the Commissioner for Information, Ranti Akerele include Tayo Oluwatuyi, Akure South, Simbo Akinola-Obe, Akure North, Siji Akindiose, Ondo East, Taiye Sunday, Idanre and Sunday Afelumo, Akoko North. Others are Tope Adebambo, Akoko North West, Charles Akinniyi, Akoko South West, Oluwole Ogidan, Akoko South East, S.I Ademokun, Ifedore, Moses Akinjiyan, Odigbo, Shadrach Olowojoni, Irele and Elowofela Solomon, Ose. The rest are Dapo Iwala, Okitipupa, Adegbnenro Nomiye, Ilaje, Kennedy Perete, Ese-Odo, Niran Akinniyi, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo and Adeola Fagbayigbo, Owo.
The speed with which the Caretaker Committees were inaugurated generated a lot of controversies among the stakeholders including the House of Assembly that felt slighted by the action of the governor which the lawmakers said ran fowl of the Local Government Law of the state. The House at a news conference presided over by the Speaker, Hon Taofeek Abdulsalam, declared the action of the governor as illegal, null and void and of no effect because the Assembly was not carried along in the exercise as required by the Local Government Law of the State. Abdusalam, who was flanked by all the principal officers of the legislature, ordered the State Police Commissioner, to effect arrest of anybody "who may want to take over the running of council administrations and charge them for trespassing."
Citing Section 12 (4) (2) of the Ondo State Local Government Law 2007 as amended, the speaker said: The governor shall acting on sanction of resolution supported by two thirds majority of the House of Assembly dissolve any local government and appoint an interim committee to oversee its affairs for a period not more than three months or for such longer or further period as the House of Assembly may determine."
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