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Makinde will wreck Oyo state with lawlessness – ALGON chair
The chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) Oyo State chapter, Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, on Sunday said Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde if not cautioned on time will wreck the state with lawlessness he has embarked upon to rule the state.
Ayodeji Abass who is a former chairman of Oluyole local government spoke on behalf of the embattled chairmen of 33 local councils and 35 Local Council Development Areas in Oyo State sacked by Governor Makinde on May 29.
In a statement titled: “OYSIEC dissolution, Governor Makinde’s continuing illegalities and frivolous naira rain: Oyo State Government, an embodiment of lawlessness and arbitrariness,” the ALGON chairman chided the governor on matters affecting the councils and the officials of the State Independent National Electoral Commission that have been sacked by the governor.
He said, “The illegal dissolution of constitutional commissions in Oyo State, namely Civil Service Commission; Judicial Service Commission; Local Government Service Commission and OYSIEC by the Governor of Oyo State, statutory bodies with a five year tenure, was yet another faulty and illegal step in the series of lawlessness and executive rascality the government of Oyo State is now known for.
“We have become an endangered state with Governor Seyi Makinde’s unending assault on all that is legal and constitutional. We woke up to the announcement of the illegal and reckless act of dissolution of the statutory commissions in Oyo State this week by the governor. In his ill-conceived attempt to avoid the self-inflicted liability occasioned by his lawless act, he made a promise of ‘Naira rain’ to members of the illegally dissolved commissions including OYSIEC as a ‘compensation’ to members of the bodies.
“Not only is this laughable, humiliating of the distinguished members of these commissions who he has presented as if they are hungry for gain rather than to serve, it is also embarrassing and smacks of poor administrative judgment and disregard for all that is hallowed in any sane clime.
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“Your Excellency, illegalities cannot be monetised and commercialised. Monetisation of lawlessness does not cure your illegality. Your decision to attempt to bribe members of OYSIEC and other commissions in lieu of their truncated tenure which you too agree is a statutory period fixed by law, is bare faced corruption, very ridiculous, morally reprehensible and an unconstitutional act that cannot stand the test of law.
“Are taxpayers in Oyo State now to bear the brunt of this recklessness? If you pay the commission members their five years wages at once for only two years spent and proceed to appoint new people to the same commissions during this same tenure arbitrarily truncated, are we as citizens to pay wages and emoluments to two different sets of persons for the same term?
“Where government everywhere frowns on ghost workers, it seems we are legalising it here paying wages to two sets of people for holding the same office at the same time! We thought His Excellency claimed Oyo State was bankrupt! Is this how he intends to plunder our commonwealth? Sacking these commissions is reprehensible enough, but proposing to pay them off for a full tenure not yet spent, yet planning to appoint new members to the same office for the same tenure is brazen robbery of the state treasury by this administration.
“Now we know who is leading the state into bankruptcy. Can the governor justifiably demand prudence, probity from workers in the state when he is laying the wrong example? If a worker is found collecting two or more people’s salary now, is it different from what Mr Governor is authorising and doing now? We have had an administration reputed and branded as the “builder of modern Oyo State,” but seems this governor is one quickly becoming reputed as the “initiator of a lawless Oyo State,” Abass-Aleshinloye added.
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