The Accord Party today kicked against the extension of the tenure of local government chairmen in the 33 local government areas of Oyo State by the state House of Assembly.

The party's chairman in the state, Bashir Lawal while addressing newsmen in Ibadan, alleged that the failure of the Abiola Ajimobi- led government to formally constitute state electoral committee that will midwife conduct of local government polls was flagrant abuse of the constitution.

Lawal who was flanked by the National Secretary of the party, Nureni Adisa and Women Leader in Oyo, Mrs Funmi Akinpelu, described as an aberration, tenure elongation of appointed rather than elected chairmen for two and half years in the life of the present administration.

Lawal who disclosed that there was no pending litigation stopping Governor Ajimobi from constituting the state electoral committee, said the tenure of the committee constituted by former governor Adebayo Akala had elapsed with their severance allowances paid to them.

The Accord party chairman urged the governor to honourably resign if he could no longer uphold the constitution he swore to protect.

The party boss who said the All Progressive Congress was afraid of defeat at the polls, asked the governor to conduct a free, fair and credible election that will usher in democratically elected chairmen.

"The government is two and half years old and Governor Abiola Ajimobi has not deemed it fit to put in place an elected government at the local government. That is an aberration of the constitution.

"The governor is hiding under the pretext that there is litigation though we all know that in actual fact there is nothing like litigation," the party said.

According to him, the OYSIEC constituted by Governor Rashidi Ladoja went to court and the court gave judgment and they have been paid all their severance allowances and outstanding salaries.

"The OYSIEC inaugurated by Former Governor Akala has spent their five years so the issue of litigation does not arise. Let us even go with his argument, there is litigation against the civil service commission, there is litigation against the Judicial Service Commission and there is litigation against OYSIEC as claimed by Governor Ajimobi. But if the Governor can flout the court processes to put in place members of the Judicial Service Commission and Civil Service Commission, I don't see why the governor cannot put in place the Oyo State Electoral Commission.

"And if he could, with the support of the state House of Assembly, elongate the tenure of the caretaker committees by another six months thereby flouting the constitution, I think it is honourable for him to resign," he said. 

APC defends Ajimobi on LG POLL

Meanwhile, the All Progressive Congress (APC), Oyo State chapter  defended the state government on its failure to hold local government election.

Apparently reacting to Accord Party on why government had not hold local polls, APC said that ignorance of law, as well as lust for governmental impunity, was the major reason why the Accord Party in the state wanted the state government to by-pass the law and hold local government elections.

The APC, in a statement issued by its interim Publicity Secretary, Hon. Dauda Kolawole, maintained that legal, rather than political consideration, was the reason why the state had not held the local government elections.

According to him, the impunity that the Accord Party leader and former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and his former deputy in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, inflicted on the electoral system of the state, was what had constituted legal constraints, which hinder the constitution of the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), thereby making the conduct of elections to be put in abeyance until a competent court of law pronounces on the matter.

"In 2007, former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala unconstitutionally sacked members and Chairman of OYSIEC appointed by his former boss, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja and replaced them with his own protégés.

Chief Oyemomilara Okunola and others appointed by Senator Ladoja and who were sent packing by Akala thus filed an action at the High Court, Ibadan to challenge their unlawful removal from office because the constitution guaranteed them a fixed term of 5 years from 2003 to 2008.

"Oyo State High Court per Hon. Justice P.O.Ige (as he then was) and now of the Court of Appeal, gave judgment in favour of Ladoja's appointees and held that they were illegally and unconstitutionally sacked by Akala. The court declared their sack null and void and ordered that all their entitlements up to 2008 be paid," the APC explained.

The party said that the Chairman and members of OYSIEC imposed by Otunba Alao-Akala in office in 2007 also went to court in 2011 to challenge their removal from office by the current governor, Senator Ajimobi, as a follow-up to the judgement obtained by Ladoja's OYSIEC men. It said that the Oyo State High Court, through Hon. Justice M.O. Bolaji-Yussuff, also awarded judgement in favour of this set of OYSIEC men too and ordered the state to pay them their entitlements.

"Right now, it is obvious that the state government is confronted with two sets of judgements from the High Court of the state, with each of the judgements validating the appointment of the claimants before each of the court and also with the earlier judgement declaring as nullity the appointment of the latter OYSIEC men of Otunba Alao-Akala," he said.

The APC said it will amount to contempt of court for the State government to urge the state House of Assembly to proceed with the screening and clearance of the Chairman and members of OYSIEC already forwarded to the House of Assembly by Governor Ajimobi, in view of the court judgments.

He said that the state government therefore chose the path of honour and constitutionalism by subjecting the latter judgement to the Court of Appeal for determination, while the state also settled all the entitlements of the OYSIEC men of 2003 to 2008.

The APC said that the appeal on the case was yet to be heard by the Court of Appeal,Ibadan, stating that it was not a government of impunity that the Ladoja government ran while he was the State Governor