>
A federal high court, Ibadan has restrained the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) from conducting its planned local government election.
The electoral umpire had slated election into the 33 local governments and 35 Local Council Development Area (LCDAs) for February 11, 2017.
But some baales (village heads) in Oyo West, Atiba and Oyo East local governments dragged the commission to court on Friday, seeking an order restraining it from conducting the planned election pending the determination of the case.
newspeakonline exclusively gathered that the baales are angry that delineation of the LCDAs ceded away part of their domains. It was learnt that parts of their domains were ceded to AFIJIO in the delineation.
The source said the baales simply wanted the issue resolved before any election holds in the LCDAs.
The order, it was learnt, was granted towards closing hour on Friday, making it difficult for the information to be sufficiently officially circulated.
The development has caused commotion among the major political parties and their candidates who were already finalizing preparations for the election.
While Accord party, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) revealed that their candidates have emerged, the All Progressives Congress (APC) slated its own primary for Tuesday January 24, 2017.
The council poll was coming 10 years after the last exercise was conducted during the tenure of former governor Rashidi Ladoja in 2007.
Details later!