Oyo local government chairmen sacked on May 29, 2019 by Governor Seyi Makinde have declared that their tenure of office will not lapse until 2021.
In a petition to the state assembly and copied to the Inspector General of Police, Oyo state Commissioner of Police and Director of State Security Service, the sacked chairmen stated that their electoral mandate had not been nullified by any competent court of law or tribunal.
The sacked chairmen in the petition by their counsel, Barristers I B. Olayinka, Kunle Sobaloju & Co, dated July, 17, 2020 said “there was no basis for the Oyo state House of Assembly to mandate the chairmen to hand over government properties in their care.”
“We wish to state that in the eyes of the law, our clients are still the democratically elected local government chairmen, it would be absurd and illegal to rely on the unlawful dissolution of the local government council by the governor or the judgment of the Court of Appeal that has nothing to do with the unlawful dissolution made by the governor and did not validate the unlawful dissolution of the council by the governor to direct our clients to surrender the attachments to their office.
“Our clients were elected on 12th May, 2018 for a 3-year term as chairmen and executive officers of local government councils and local council development areas by an election conducted by the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) and their tenure will lapse in May, 2021.”
The solicitors maintained that, “it is pertinent to reiterate that since our clients are the democratically elected local government chairmen of the councils and their election have not been nullified by any competent court of law or tribunal and their tenure has not lapsed.”
