Oyo LG crisis could have been handled better – Hakeem Alao

*Not sure fresh election will hold in first quarter of 2020

By Lai Mahmood

It would have been better for the people of Oyo State if all the actors in the current crisis rocking the third tier of government in the state could be handled in a better way.

Engr. Oyedele Hakeem Alao, who was governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the last election stated this in Ibadan on Tuesday.

He said this as, according to him, citizens and residents of the state had been made to suffer for too long as far as local government administration was concerned.

Alao’s worry was contained in a statement made available to newsmen on the ensuing confusion on who should legitimately be in charge of the local governments and LCDAs in the state, which he said had been militating against smooth administration and service delivery to the people at the grassroots.

It would be recalled that the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), on the strength of the Supreme Court ruling on a similar case, had issued a letter asking Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration to reinstate the elected chairmen he sacked immediately after resuming office in May.

Acting on the Federal Government’s order of reinstatement, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alhaji Muhammed Adamu, gave  the necessary backing.

Engr. Alao said, “Since the administration of the duo of Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja and Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala to the regime of Senator Isiak Abiola Ajimobi, public governance at the grassroots level in Oyo State has been deviled with ineptitude and underdevelopment arising from the tussle of who should legitimately govern the third tier of government in the state.

“This situation has held for so long that it has hindered development so badly and made the government at the level appear non-existent.”

He laid the blame of the current situation on the doorsteps of past governors in the state, particularly the last administration, who did not conduct local government election for more than seven years, noting that “nothing has been responsible for this hateful and sorry situation other than self centredness, ego, winners-take-all syndrome, abuse of power and public office, oppressive and unforgiving spirit in our political leaders.”

Commenting on the winners-take-all attitude of the sitting governors, Engr Alao chided the last administration, saying “APC (All Progressives Congress) was so popular that it won everywhere across the state. And this is a party that had lost about three re-run elections conducted by INEC prior the one the Senator Ajimobi-OYSIEC conducted in 2018. Was it not funny that an opposition candidate and who was a new entrant into Oyo politics, Rt Hon. Adebo Edward Ogundoyin, could win election at the base of the late Rt. Hon. Speaker Michael Adeyemo, whose younger brother was fielded as the candidate of APC in the Ibarapa East State Constituency re-run election to replace the deceased speaker?”

He however said that Governor Makinde should have led above board by finding another well informed way of dealing with the rot created by the past administration as he maintains that, “Two wrongs never make a right and illegality does not make another illegality legal, adding that, “As for Abubakar Malami and the IGP, why not wait for the outcome of the case already instituted in the court regarding the matter instead of creating unwarranted tension in Oyo State, staying action a little on the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement on the state?”

Engr Alao, who is calling for avoidance of foisting terror on the people of the state, stated it was not even clear whether Governor Makinde would conduct a fresh local government election in the first quarter of 2020 as promised on his first quarterly media chat on Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) as there are no serious signs that election would hold.

He added that another issue was whether the Makinde-chairmen could operate in interim capacity the accounts and finance of any local government, “although there was a circular dated 22 January, 2020, signed by one A. R. Akintola for Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters and addressed to all caretaker chairmen in Oyo State, lifting the ban on the bank accounts of local governments.”

Engr Oyedele Hakeem Alao stated that part of the fallout of the crisis is the disappearance of the local government staffers from their duty posts as directed by their chairman, Comrade Sikiru Titilola Sodo, while Alao charged that “All of us are brothers and sisters, let us all stop disdainful attitude towards one another so we do not keep subjecting the masses to unnecessary psychological torture and socio-political economic suffering, an approach which will continue to hinder our progress individually and collectively. Our people have suffered for too long and nobody should foist terror on them.”