The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state has accused the executive chairmen and career officers in all 33 local government councils of running Governor Seyi Makinde’s agenda, saying it may lead them into potential legal trouble.
The APC warned that the council leaders might face legal consequences if they did not distance themselves from Makinde’s efforts to undermine the recent Supreme Court decision granting financial autonomy to local governments.
The party’s publicity secretary, Olawale Sadare, accused Governor Makinde of disrespecting constitutional democracy and the rule of law.
The statement also accused the governor of having an excessive ambition to make Oyo State a separate republic from Nigeria to position himself as a figure to be worshipped.
The statement pointed out that Governor Makinde had emerged as the only governor among the 36 states to criticise the Supreme Court’s verdict, describing it as a distraction.
Sadare said the governor also inaugurated a special committee to review the judgement and mandated its members to make recommendations that would enable him to maintain the status quo regarding the joint account arrangement between states and local government councils.
The statement reads, “The whole world did not realise the magnitude of damage done to the third tier of government in Oyo state in the last 62 months until Gov. Makinde came out openly to castigate both the federal government and the Judiciary on the issue of financial autonomy”.
“The governor had been fighting tooth and nail to promote an unpopular call for a reversal of the verdict, which had been described, by most people, as a victory for the masses.
It would be recalled that the 33 council chairmen in Oyo State have decided to pull out of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) following the Supreme Court’s judgment that granted financial autonomy to local governments across the country
The council chairmen, in a communique signed by all the chairmen in the state as released to newsmen by ALGON Public Relation Officer Ibrahim Akintayo, unanimously declared their unalloyed support for Governor Seyi Makinde.