Only Supreme Court Can Make Me Pay Sacked LG Chairmen – Makinde

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State says he will not pay the sacked local government chairmen until the Supreme Court orders him to do so.

Makinde said this in Ibadan on Saturday while commenting on the garnishee order on state government accounts recently secured from an Abuja Federal High Court by the local government chairmen he sacked in 2019.

Justice A.O. Ebong had on December 15 issued an order attaching the state government’s accounts in 10 commercial banks in the country.

Ebong gave the order while ruling on a garnishee proceeding initiated by the local government chairmen sacked by Makinde on May 29, 2019.

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The Supreme Court had on May 7, 2021 voided the sacking of the chairmen and councilors, as pronounced by the governor on the day of his inauguration for his first term in office in 2019.

The sacked council chairmen however got a N4,874,889,425.60 judgment against the state governor and other officials and agencies of the state. About N1.5bn had been paid, leaving a balance of N3.5bn.

Makinde in his reaction to the court ruling said his government would not bow to pressure to pay the state’s money into wrong hands until all legal means were exhausted.

He insisted that the sacking of the former council chairmen in 2019 was justified because their elections were not constitutional.

The governor also described the ruling obtained from the Federal High Court in Abuja as an abuse of court process.

“The ex-LG chairmen will not get a dime until the Supreme Court asks us to pay. I will not pay wrong people. This is a government that is based on the constitution,” Makinde stated.

Also responding to the alleged conversion of Agodi forest to a housing estate, Makinde said those agitating against the move were ill-advised. He maintained that the decision would benefit the state both economically and in terms of security.