Insecurity: Akeredolu, Makinde, other Southern Governors Meet in Delta State

Earlier today, the Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde, Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu SAN and other Southern Governors met in Delta State to discuss and chart a way forward on state of security in Nigera.

Seyi Makinde while reacting on the outcome of the meeting took to his Twitter handle and wrote as thus:

“Today, we attended the meeting of Southern States’ Governors in Delta State. We discussed various national issues including security and restructuring. In view of the incursions of armed herders, criminals and bandits, we resolved to ban open grazing in all of Southern Nigeria.

“We agreed that Nigeria needs to be restructured to reflect true federalism leading to state policing and a change in the revenue allocation formula of the nation. We also recommended the establishment of ports in other states to address the congestion of the Apapa Port.

“We advised the Federal Government to convoke a National Dialogue to address greater inclusiveness in existing governance arrangements. We also recommended a review of appointments into Federal Government agencies including security agencies to reflect federal character”.

Buhari felicitates National Flag Designer, Taiwo Akinkunmi @ 83

The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has felicated the designer of National Flag, Taiwo Akinkunmi on ocassion of his 83rd birthday.

This was made known today in a statement signed and released to newsmen by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina as read in part:

“On behalf of all Nigerians and the government, President Muhammadu Buhari sends warm felicitations to Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, OFR, on his 85th birthday, joining family members and friends to celebrate with designer of the National Flag, whose creativity and patriotism remain remarkable.

“President Buhari affirms that Akinkunmi, who is an honorary Life Presidential Adviser, upholds the values that every citizen should emulate for nation building, which include humility, selflessness, integrity and a keen interest in seeking greater good for country and humanity.

“The President prays that God will grant the octogenarian and retired civil servant longer life, good health and strength to keep serving the nation he loves so much”.

Oyo LG Election: Police Meet Stakeholders As CP Promises To Tighten Security

ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko, met with Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), sister security agencies and political stakeholders to chart a way forward on security of the state ahead of the forthcoming Local Government Poll.

The police commissioner made the promise on Monday, May 10, 2021, while, in collaboration with OYSIEC, playing host to principal political stakeholders in the state, in readiness for the local government elections coming up on May 22.

According to a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Adewale Osifeso, at the parley were the Chairman, OYSIEC, Aare Isiaka Abiola Olagunju (SAN), representative of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Oyo State, Mr Akinade Kabir Opeyemi, representatives from all other sister agencies and political stakeholders.

Osifeso said that the collaboration was “to sensitise and legally bind principal actors, especially aspirants and their party supporters towards the conduct of a hitch-free voting exercise.

According to the PPRO in the statement, “the Commissioner of Police wishes to appeal to members of the public not to relent in providing timely and credible information that will help the process before, during and after the elections.

“The CP also reiterated the Command’s commitment to ensuring a free and fair election void of breaches and violations.

Supreme Court Judgment: Makinde to settle sacked council chairmen, councillors with N3.7bn

Oyo State government to pay an estimated N3.7 billion to Illegally chairmen and Councilors following the Supreme Court Judgement.

The amount, according to The Nation, is for their arrears in salaries and allowance as ordered by the Supreme Court.

The elected chairman, vice chairman and councillors had two years of their tenure left when Governor Seyi Makinde fired them.

The money is for salaries and entitlements for 68 chairmen, 68 vice chairmen and 610 councillors, democratically elected in the 33 local government areas and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

According to the dat from salaryscale.com, each of the 68 chairmen is entitled to N3,181,611 salaries and allowances per annum, while each vice chairman is entitled to N2,803,392 in salaries and allowances. Each of the councillors is entitled to N2.4 million per annum. This does not cover severance package.

A rough estimate of the debt, which the apex court ordered the governor to pay by August, shows that while chairmen will rake in an average of N432.6 million, vice chairmen will receive N381.2 million. The over 600 councillors will receive N2.9billion, bringing it to an estimated N3.7billion.

Ajimobi taught us to follow rule of law in the face of intimidation- Oyo ALGON

The Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Oyo State Chapter, has dedicated its victory at the Supreme Court to the late former Gov. Abiola Ajimobi.

The ALGON Chairman, Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, made the dedication at a news conference on Saturday in Ibadan.

The ALGON chairman said that Ajimobi was instrumental to the victory through his support for ALGON.

He said that the late Ajimobi taught ALGON to thread the legal path to justice even in the face of intimidation and harassment.

“I have the mandate of my colleagues to say that as sweet as this victory is, we regret that our leader, in the person of Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, is not around to witness this day.

“We have, however, decided to dedicate this victory to the loving memory of Sen. Abiola Ajimobi because he taught us to follow rule of law even in the face of intimidation and harassment,” he said.

He expressed appreciation to all those who contributed to the victory, saying their efforts laid a strong foundation for democracy to thrive at the grassroots.

“What we are fighting for is not about the office. It is about laying a good precedence for others who will occupy those offices later.

“It is about the rule of law. It is about democracy to thrive at the grassroots.

“This is what we have been fighting for, this is what we will continue to fight for and this is what we appreciate in the judgment,” he said.

Chief Akin Oke, the State APC Caretaker Chairman, called on Gov. Seyi Makinde to postpone local government elections in the state scheduled for May 22, to allow APC to participate.

The APC chairman said that there was no way the party could be part of the preparation for the election at the initial stage due to the litigation.

He noted that the party had challenged the illegal sack of democratically-elected chairmen and councillors in the state, adding that it had been vindicated.

“If you watch the way we fought this struggle. We fought it with a focus, we fought it strategically, we fought it with common sense, we fought it with academic depth.

“We are not afraid of local government elections.

“In fact, to show they are really popular, they can postpone the elections to accommodate the APC,” he said.

Abass-Aleshinloye said that the Oyo ALGON won its appeal at the Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment.

He said that the Supreme Court fined Oyo State government N20 million for perpetrating illegality.

The ALGON boss said the Supreme Court also ordered that all the sacked council chairmen and councillors should receive their full salaries and allowances up till March 2022.

Abass-Aleshinloye added that all the elected chairmen and councillors from the 33 local governments and 35 local council development areas would benefit from the judgment.

Supreme Court Judgment: Oyo APC should bury its head in shame for claiming fake victory – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo state, has asked leaders of the opposition All Progressives Congress in the State to bury their heads in shame for proclaiming a spurious victory on the May 7 ruling of the Supreme Court on the tussle over local Council administration in the state.
The State’s Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Engineer Akeem Olatunji, who stated this on Saturday, said that Governor ‘Seyi Makinde deserved to be hailed as a special prophet who saw tomorrow because he had earlier offered the sacked ALGON chairmen the same conditions they got from the Apex Court on Friday.
“It will be recalled the Engineer Seyi Makinde had asked the State’s negotiation team set up to find an out-of- court settlement (at the earlier stages if the trial) to propose the offront payment of the salaries of the embattled ALGON Chairmen, but they were misadvised by their greedy leaders whose target was the treasury of the local governments. It is obvious the Governor Makimde actually saw tomorrow,” Olatunji said.

Oyo PDP in a signed press statement on Saturday 8th of May, described the state chapter of the APC as a bunch of shameless politicians who will always display their rookie knowledge of politics.

The ruling party in Oyo state said that only rookie politicians with very high level of delusionary tendencies would expect to get a different judgement from any court of law, looking at the facts of the matter.
In fact, they should count themselves lucky because the Supreme Court was more than generous to them when it overlooked the series of slap the APC inflicted on the court system in the process of installing the all gone ALGON members, stressing that the illegality perpetrated by the APC government when it imposed its members on Oyo Councils, flouting in the process, every laid down electoral regulations and guidelines, would easily found conspicuous space in the Guinness Book of World Records.

“The APC in Oyo State and its forever gone ALGON members is just an empty vesel that makes loud noises, full of fury and agony for no just cause.
“They but they think that everyone else is as politically naive as they are, forgetting that the law, ordinarily is never based on parochial sentiments.

“That some APC leaders are jubilating and dancing macabre dance over the zero success they recorded at the Supreme Court is shameful and an open display of the myopic thinking of uninformed politicians.
“They want the public to forget that the real prayers at the Supreme Court was that they be returned to office as chairmen, a quest that was thrown away like rotten fruits, when the Apex Court declared that their tenure had expired.

“How can any right- thinking politician muscle up motivation to celebrate such a zero success?
But their shamelessness has shown clearly because in actual sense, it is not such an easy task to embark on such a wild goose chase and be so disgraced at every court approached.

“The fact of the matter is that the case actually favoured PDP Starboy Governor Seyi Makinde, our very own world striker!
We are not surprised that in their usual manner, the APC is mouthing victory when they came out the worst for it .
The people are aware of their tricks have since deciphered the emptiness in the cancerous APC and their agents of propaganda.

“The simple fact is that the Supreme Court, in its judgement, noted that the the tenures of the sacked Council chairmen and Councillors have expired and only reiterated the earlier stance of the Governor Seyi Makinde- led State Government, which had offered compensation to the sacked local government chairmen before now.

“Unfortunately, as it is their stock in trade, the APC went to town touting all sorts of claims and spreading lies with the sole intent of misinforming some uninformed members of the public and its members.

“Governor Makinde, without the court willingly moved to offer them compensations in a peace parley but they rejected it saying they only want to be returned to office. Now that they went ahead to the Supreme Court, what did they get? The Apex Court only said hey! your tenure has since expired, you can only get paid some compensations.
That’s exactly what Governor Makinde had , offered. What really are they rejoicing over?

“It is even more laughable that a man like the former Governor Alao Akala, is telling the state not to proceed with democratic elections, that will usher in chairmen in the state.

“We are not surprised at such ludicrous reasoning because as we recall, the APC, an epitome of illegality and corruption, used caretaker local government chairmen for seven out of its eight, while only setting up the sacked ALGON chairmen as a booby trap to destabilise the Makinde administration.
“They should not think that the people have forgotten so soon such the draconian governance that epitomized modern day slavery, which APC represented in Oyo State between May 2011 and May 2019.

“The PDP in Oyo State has come to usher in true Democracy and we have been doing that for the past two years. The days of impunity and illegality as imposed by the riotous and inept APC are over.

“The APC and their outgone ALGON who see their failure as a pass mark should prepare to go back to court for its own political miscalculation.

“The APC family in Oyo state should cover their eyes in shame at least for the sake of honour and dignity. Tenure has since expired. They can’t go to work, they are gone, they are politically jobless, but no! APC in our dear state never keeps quiet not even when they utter sounds without any form of meaning.

“The local government election billed for 22nd of May will hold and all participating political parties will present their best materials before the people to be elected and funny enough we will not be allowed to be drawn back to the dark days of APC administration where the people at the grassroots where denied local government administration.”

Dwindling Revenue: Ekiti Agrees on Spending Cuts To Cope With Nigeria’s Economic Reality

As a way of coping with current economic realities in the country, stakeholders in Ekiti on Tuesday agreed with the state government on measures to cut government spending to keep afloat in the face of dwindling government revenues.

Both the governor and stakeholders, however, agreed on some cost-saving measures including reduction in subventions to higher institutions in the state, cutting or total stoppage of running grants to offices, and discontinuation of the consequential adjustments of the minimum wage for senior category of workers as well as ramping up of tax collection in a bid to shore up internally generated revenue (IGR)

The stakeholders’ meetings which took place at the Adetiloye Hall, Ado-Ekiti was called by the state government as an avenue to present the state of the state finances to the critical stakeholders, comprising civil servants, traditional rulers, religious leaders, labour and trade union leaders, representatives of the academic community, student leaders, leadership of market women, artisan and transporters among others.

Governor Fayemi set the tone for the day’s discussion when he reeled out the state’s finances including project distributions as well as current financial challenges.

The governor whose presentation also included a comparison with other sister states explained the need to reflect the economic realities and development in the country in order to avert a possible economic crisis. He said if the state must survive the current economic quagmire, there was the need to cut over N680 million spent per month.

Supreme Court Judgment: NCC Boss, Adeolu Congratulates APC, Tells Makinde to Eschew Illegality

The Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),Professor Adeolu Akande has congratulated the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State over the judgement of the Supreme Court which declared the dissolution of elected local government councils in the state as illegal, null and void.

Professor Akande also congratulated the members of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) for their steadfastness and principled challenge of the illegal dissolution of the councils up to the apex Court in the country. “This is the distinctive feature of democrats and history will be kind to you all for your principled stand”, he said.

In the statement personally signed by him, Professor Akande said Governor Seyi Makinde should learn from the misadventure of dissolving the councils against the laws of the country and extand judgments of the Supreme Court. “He should begin to conduct himself in accordance with the laws of the country”,he advised.

‘It is most unfortunate that Engineer Seyi Makinde went clearly against extant judgements of the Supreme Court to dissolve the elected councils. It is also unfortunate that poor tax payers in the state would have to cough out N20million to pay for the cost awarded by the Supreme Court against the Oyo State Government.

“It is advisable that the Governor Makinde views every such money from the state coffers as funds that could have been better utilised for development instead of assuming that it is at no cost to him personally”.

Professor Akande said the important message from the Supreme Court judgment is that the earlier the country embraces local government autonomy, the better for the development of the country.

“The administration of local government remains a sorepoint in our democracy. The councils are the nearest to the people and they feel the pulse of the people faster than any other level of government. They are also the first point of call for the people at the grassroots in time of distress. We should promote autonomy of local government in terms of funding, personnel and constitutional roles. This is the surest way to fast track development at the grassroots”, he concluded.

Breaking: Supreme Court Nullifies Sacking of LG Bosses, Councillors, Tells Makinde To Pay Full Salaries

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has overruled the sacking of erstwhile Oyo State Council Chairmen and Councillors by Engr Seyi Makinde and its judgement asked the Governor to pay their 28 months’ salaries and cost of 20M against the OYSG over illegal removal of the council executive and legislative arms.

After close to two years moving from the High Court to the Appeal Court, the Supreme Court Friday morning laid to rest the issue of the sacking of council chairmen and councilors by Seyi Makinde, Governor of Oyo State.

The apex court said that Makinde was wrong to have removed the council Chairmen and Councillors.

Though details of the judgement are still sketchy as at press time, it was understood that the council chairmen and councilors had been sacked few hours after Makinde took oath of office as governor.

They had been elected by the administration of late former governor Abiola Ajimobi.

Rather than ask them to return to their respective council areas, the court asked Makinde to pay all the council chairmen and councillors their salaries and allowances before August 2021.

It also awarded N20 million cost against Makinde

With the judgement, the council election fixed for May 22, 2021, can now go ahead.

The major opposition party, APC, whose members went to court to challenge their sacking, would, however, not be participating in the forthcoming Local Government Election.

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