Oyo Insists On Feb 11 LG Polls
Despite a court order restraining Oyo State government from conducting elections into the council areas, it insisted yesterday that the February 11, 2017 date for local council polls in the state still stands.
The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Seun Abimbola who made this submission while reacting to a Court judgment of an Abuja Federal High Court. He said “as far as the government of Oyo State is concerned, we are still proceeding with our arrangements to hold the elections on the said date.
“Our present stand is based on the fact that we have not been served any court process. The news making the rounds about the Abuja court’s decision is still speculative.
“Oyo Government read the news just like others too on the pages of the newspapers. We cannot act based on newspaper reports,” he said.
When asked if the government was aware that the complainants were going to an Abuja court to seek justice, Abimbola said, “no, we were not aware that anybody was going to any court to sue.
“They went to court surreptitiously. If we had known, we would have participated and would have been fully informed,” he said.
He added that there are so many questions that were begging for answers as far as the Abuja Court order on OYSIEC is concerned.
He queried why a Federal High Court in far away Abuja would decide to listen to and make pronouncements on Oyo state’s local government elections.
“We do not want to join anybody in spreading speculative pieces of information, when and if they eventually serve us documents on the court’s decisions, we will take the matter from there”, he concluded.
When contacted, Oyo State’s Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Toye Arulogun also spoke like his colleague from the Ministry of Justice.
His words “We have not been served any paper from any court concerning the proposed local government election. Until then, we are proceeding with our plans. If we get court papers tomorrow, we may not proceed again.
“Permit me to say here that though, I am not a lawyer, I am just curious that an Abuja High Court would make pronouncements over Oyo State’s local council elections. I am sure our Attorney General is up to task to tackle this.”
On his own part, Mr Yomi Layinka, the spokesman to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, when contacted, said that the governor too had not received any court papers in connection with the local council polls.
“The governor has not been served any paper in his personal or official capacity. We are sure the Attorney General will do the needful if and when any court paper comes. Till then, the news making the rounds is just some kind of speculation. You read it just like I read it too. We are waiting for formal action from the court.”
According to the report on the controversial judgment, the Accountant General of the Federation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministry of Finance have all been asked to withhold monthly allocations to the 33 local government councils in the state.
The orders were made in Abuja last Friday following a motion ex-parte filed in the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/11/2017 on behalf of 16 Baales from Oyo Federal Constituency by the lawyer, Ahmed Raji SAN, pursuant to the creation of 35 local council development authorities (LCDAs) in the state.
The matter, which had been adjourned to February 7 for hearing of motion on notice has the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi as a defendant – as well as Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the state House of Assembly, and the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
