The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, has described the purported plan by Governor Seyi Makinde to conduct fresh local government election in May this year as a theatre of the absurd.
This, according to the opposition party, could not attract the attention of any serious political player or pundits as it was a mere waste of time and resources.
The PDP administration of Gov Makinde and the opposition APC had been at daggers’ drawn, over the legality or otherwise of the governor’s decision to dissolve the elected officials of the 33 local government councils and 35 local council development areas on his first day in office in 2019 even as the Supreme Court has announced May 7, 2021 as the date for its final verdict on the matter.
The party, in a statement issued on Saturday and made available to journalists in Ibadan by the Special Assistant (Media) to its Caretaker Chairman, Chief Akin Oke, and Secretary to the Committee on the Membership Registration and Revalidation Exercise, Olawale Sadare, stated that Makinde had again exposed himself as a person who lacked respect for the principle of constitutional democracy and the rule of law.
The statement read: “It is obvious that the governor knows that his decision to sack democratically elected chairmen and councillors is an aberration as well as a slap on democracy and the rule of law.”
“This has reflected in the back and forth tactics he has been using in calming the nerves of the people over the stagnation he has brought into the administration of the third tier of government in the state.”
“And to further demonstrate his disrespect to the judiciary, Gov Makinde waited for the Supreme Court to pick a date for its judgment on the ALGON case against him before ordering his stooges in OYSIEC to roll out guidelines for the purported plan to conduct a fresh local government election in the state.”
The statement read: “It is obvious that the governor knows that his decision to sack democratically elected chairmen and councillors is an aberration as well as a slap on democracy and the rule of law.”
“This has reflected in the back and forth tactics he has been using in calming the nerves of the people over the stagnation he has brought into the administration of the third tier of government in the state.”
“And to further demonstrate his disrespect to the judiciary, Gov Makinde waited for the Supreme Court to pick a date for its judgment on the ALGON case against him before ordering his stooges in OYSIEC to roll out guidelines for the purported plan to conduct a fresh local government election in the state.”
“In the mind of the governor, the worst scenario would be for the Court to order financial compensation for his victims in lieu of the last two years of the tenure which he has robbed them.”
“But our firm belief in the judiciary as the last hope of the common man gives us an assurance that Gov Makinde and his party would be utterly disappointed this time because it is clear that he had acted illegally and shamefully to the consternation of all defenders of democracy, rule of law and rationality.”