ALGON berates Makinde over dissolution of Oyo state electoral body

The Association of Local Government of Nigeria,( ALGON) Oyo State has condemned the dissolution of the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) by the State government.

ALGON in a statement signed by its Chairman,  Prince Abass Aleshinloye said the dissolution was illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary as the Commission has a statutory five-year tenure which ends in 2021.

According to Aleshinloye, the action of Governor Seyi Makinde “is yet another faulty and illegal step in the series of lawlessness and executive rascality the government of Oyo state is now known for.”

He described the Governor’s statement that all the entitlement due to the members of the dissolved Commission would be paid in order to absolve the state of any liability as, “laughable and humiliating of the Commission’s members.

The ALGON chairman advised the governor against the planned monetization as, “illegalities cannot be monetized and commercialized”, adding that  monetization  of lawlessness does not cure its illegality.

He described the action as corruption in its basest form, “morally reprehensible, unconstitutional and cannot stand the test of law.

Aleshinloye called on ALGON members, secretaries, Councillors and supervisors to  ignore the directive to a  committee set up earlier to probe the accounts of elected local government administration by the governor. He described the committee as another illegality that is  unknown to the Nigerian constitution and an affront on subsisting court judgement.

“By law, a governor cannot probe local government chairmen, just like the president cannot probe a state governor by an adhoc committee. It is only a Governor of illegalities that seeks to dare the hallowed letters of our constitution he swore to uphold. No state Governor in Nigeria has followed this ill-conceived lawless example. Accounts of local government councils are regularly audited by the auditors from the Auditor General’s office  and its activities are also regularly monitored accordingly.

“ We therefore join the good people  of Oyo state to demand a reversal of such poor and reckless executive decision.”