Sacked Chairmen: Oyo ALGON Rejects Appeal Court Judgement, Heads For Supreme Court

The Association of Local Government of Nigeria Oyo State has rejected the Court of Appeal verdict which upheld the sacking of council bosses in the state.

The ALGON in a statement issued on Wednesday by its chairman, Mr Ayodeji Abass – Aleshinloye said the appellate court veered off from the crux of the matter before it.

The ALGON statement read,
“It is our strong belief that the course of justice is not served because the crux of the judgement was a subtle hibernation in legal technicality without due consideration of the hard facts of the issues and the valid points of law.

“Upholding the appeal by Oyo State Government because in their opinion, the previous Oyo State High Court judgement (perpetual injunction) procured by elected chairmen and councilors in 2019 given by Justice Aderemi after a duly conducted election was “speculative” veered off from the facts of the matter which should have been considered.

“If their Lordships opined that the perpetual injunction against the dissolution that we got last year was speculative, the question to ask is: was the local government election held in accordance with the Oyo State electoral law after a high court had discharged the initial injunction on the conduct of the election also speculative? Was the mandate freely given by the people also speculative?

“It is trite in law that governors or state assemblies cannot dissolve elected local government just like federal cannot dissolve state government. This position had been reinforced many times by the Supreme Court, the ultimate court of law which has the force of the constitution as its judgment applies to everyone and courts.

“What the appellate court has done by this judgment was to have revised the Supreme Court judgement and technically returned the illegal power of dissolution of local government to the governors in Nigeria through the back door. This is dangerous and a setback to democracy and the rule of law.

“We humbly reject the judgement and we shall proceed to the Supreme Court for a review. Our lawyers have been informed to take the necessary action.

The ALGON chairman said the sacked chairmen and councillors would continue to defend democracy and the mandates which he said were freely given them legally and peacefully until justice is done.