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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The sacked local government chairmen and councillors in Oyo State have accused Governor Seyi Makinde of pretending not to have the records of the judgement awarded against his administration by the Supreme Court for removing them from office before the end of their tenure.
In a statement made available to newsmen on Friday by former ALGON chairman in Oyo State, Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye (MDII), the former council chiefs alleged that some state officials have been calling some of them to remind the state government of their numbers, tenure, salaries and allowances.
Aleshinloye, who described the development as laughable and elementary, said the state government has all the information about the former council chiefs in its record and the files it used to pay them the first tranche of the judgement debt.
“It has come to the knowledge of ‘Forum 68’ (ex-ALGON members in the state) that Oyo State Government is pretending that it has no record again of the judgement creditors, i.e elected Chairmen and Councillors who got a favourable judgement from the Supreme Court on May 7th, 2021 after Governor Seyi Makinde illegally and arbitrarily sent us packing from office.
“Recall that the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court ordered the governor to pay our salaries and allowances, and he got a fine for his action by consciously breaching the nation’s constitution. After much delay and deliberate disobedience to the Supreme Court judgement, Gov. Seyi Makinde paid a tranche of the judgement debt of N1,500,000,000.00 out of N4,874,889,425.60.
“The state government made a promise to pay the balance of the judgement debt within six months as stated by the then Attorney General of the state in his letter dated 13/12/2021. The governor failed to pay and started playing hanky panky by rushing to a High Court to technically appeal against the Supreme Court judgement that he would not pay as expressly stated by the Supreme Court in a judgement written in simple, unambiguous English language.
“The antics of such absurd legal rigmarole at a huge cost to the state is to deny or delay payment of our money ordered by the Supreme Court. The governor should be reminded the aphorism of Thomas Fulller that says: ‘Be you ever so high, the law is above you.’ It is a judgement debt he must pay. So calling some former members of ALGON individually, as some state officials have been doing, to remind the state government of our numbers, tenure, salaries and allowances is laughable and elementary. The state government has all the information about us in its record, court documents, and in the files it used to pay us the first tranche. What the governor is pretending to look for in Sokoto town is right there in his Sokoto (pocket) if he is sincere.
“After the garnishee of the state government’s accounts as ordered by the high court, the governor has issued threats publicly to “deal with us” for being lawful, persistent and resolute in seeking the course of justice legally through the courts as democrats who believe in the rule of law,” he said.
Aleshinloye further stated that if the governor truly wants to pay the judgement debt, he has all the information at his disposal. He added that in line with the former council chiefs resolution and a positive order of the court granted with the consent of Makinde’s counsel, the governor knows that the payment must be made through the judgement creditors counsel account.
“It is on record that even without a court order, the sum of N1.5 billion was paid to us through the account of our then solicitor i.e Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) & Co.
“Therefore, payment of our entitlement should be paid through our lawyer, who has power of attorney to receive on our behalf as supported by the court,” he stated.