20th October, 2010
Chairmen of the 16 local government areas in Ekiti State are now jittery following last Friday’s Appeal Court judgment in Ilorin, declaring as winner, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate in the 2007 governorship election, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and sacking the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Engr. Segun Oni.
LG Circuit gathered that the council chairmen, who are all members of the PDP, are apprehensive of what may become of them as there are indications that the new governor may dissolve the 16 councils and board of parastatals and replace them with caretaker committees.
A source informed LG Circuit that the governor will be relying on a subsisting court order, which initially stopped the conduct of the election that brought the 16 PDP council chairmen into office, which was defied by the ousted Governor Oni’s administration, which conducted the election.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) had boycotted the election on the grounds that it did not comply with democratic norms.
The case, however, is still pending in court.
But in his reaction, the Chairman of Ikole Local Government, Mr. Wole Ayeni, expressed confidence that the governor will allow the council chiefs to complete their tenure in office which ends in the next one year.
Speaking with LG Circuit in a telephone chat yesterday, Ayeni described Fayemi as one that so much believes in the rule of law, saying he will not want to do anything in the contrary.
According to him, “a suit over the matter is still pending before the court and the governor, being a staunch believer in the rule of law, will not want to do a thing that will be considered unlawful, more so, we were duly elected in an election conducted by legally constituted state Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC), while we signed a three-year tenure out of which we have spent just one year and ten months and still have one year and two months to go.â€
On his allegiance to the new governor being a member of the opposition party, Ayeni said as a true democrat and a local government chairman, he is bound to be loyal to the governor of the day, irrespective of his political leaning, but was quick to add that he is a bona fide member of the PDP and can never trade away his party for anything.
He, however, wished the governor a successful tenure.
Meanwhile, the Kayode Fayemi government in Ekiti State has directed security agencies to take measures “to prevent further looting in the local government’s headquarters and treasury cash offices.â€
A statement issued by Mr. Yemi Adaramodu, an aide to Governor Fayemi in Ado-Ekiti, the state’s capital, had alleged looting of government property in the 16 local government councils.
The statement urged local government workers under the aegis of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), to help the new government in stopping the alleged fraud.
It warned that government would deal decisively with anyone found to be directly or indirectly involved in the looting.