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Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, has said he will not pay the council offivials he sacked in 2019, until Supreme Court orders him to pay.
Makinde stated this on Saturday during an end of the year media chat, hosted by the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS).
The governor said that the sacked council officials had been using all methods to distract his government.
The former council officials were elected in 2018 during the administration of late Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
The former council officials, comprising chairmen and councillors were sacked before the end of their tenure by Makinde on his assumption of office on May 29, 2019.
However, the officials sued the state government and got a judgment N4,874,889,425.60 judgementagainst Makinde and others at the Supreme Court in in May 2021.
The council officials also recently obtained a garnishee order to recover the balance of N3,424,889,425.60, which is outstanding from the actual judgement sum, from which Makinde paid N1.5 billion in 2022.
Speaking on the garnishee order against the state government’s accounts in 10 commercial banks on Saturday, Makinde declared that his government would not bow to pressure to pay the state’s money into the wrong hands until all legal means were exhausted.
He added that the council bosses will not be paid until the Supreme Court asks him to pay them.
“I could have worked with anybody but because they did something that was not in line with the constitution, we decided that they had to go.
“That was not the first time. It may look like I took that decision in line with things that happened in the past. No, I took the decision solely because I felt we could not build a foundation on unconstitutionality.
“In 2007, Governors Alao-Akala and Ladoja were in the same party and were fighting within the party. As soon as the late Alao-Akala got in there, he dissolved the LG chairmen and put his people in charge. In 2011, the same thing happened when Governor Abiola Ajimobi got there. He dissolved them.
“Those people that were dissolved in 2007 and 2011, this administration is still paying their entitlements. When it got to 2019, they went to court, the case was dismissed and they were forum-shopping, going to different courts until they got to the FCT High Court.
“I was going to go after them and somebody in my legal team came and said it was an abuse of court process. The FCT High Court is in its own jurisdiction as the Oyo State High Court that dismissed this case in the first instance. On that singular act, I was distracted, and I don’t easily get distracted.
“But I have news for them; they will not get a dime till the Supreme Court asks us to pay. I will not pay the wrong people. I still held a meeting yesterday with the team. It is nothing to worry about. This is a government that is based on the Constitution,” the governor said.