Justice not served, battle continues at Supreme Court ― Sacked Oyo LG Chairmen

The battle by the sacked local government Chairmen in Oyo State against the Oyo State governor is to continue at the Supreme Court.

This move follows Wednesday’s Appeal Court judgment of Haruna Tsammani which set aside a May 6, 2019 judgment of the state High Court restraining the Oyo state governor from dissolving the local councils.

In a statement on behalf of the sacked Chairmen, Mr Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye said the decision to approach the Supreme Court is based on a strong belief that the course of justice is not served at the Appeal Court.

Abass-Aleshinloye categorized the judgment as a subtle subscription to legal technicality without due consideration of the hard facts of the issues and the valid points of law.

He rejected the description of their case as speculative, noting that the Appeal Court, by Wednesday’s judgment, revised a Supreme Court judgement and gave governors an illegal power of dissolve local government councils.

This, Abass-Aleshinloye said, was dangerous and a setback to democracy and rule of law.

The statement read, “With due respect to their Lordships of the Court of Appeal that upheld the dissolution of democratically elected local government councils administration in Oyo State by the Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, ALGON rejects the judgment and will proceed to the Supreme Court to appeal against the judgment.

“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 councillors 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.

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“If their Lordships opined that the perpetual injunction against 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? Answers to these valid questions on point of law cannot and must be yes but No.

“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 whose 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 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.

“As elected chairmen and councillors, we will continue to defend democracy and our freely given mandate legally and peacefully until justice is done and seen to be done. The struggle continues.”

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