By Akinloye Oyeneyin
The AGF and the IGP should be cautious and the OYSIEC should also conduct proper LG polls as those dissolved by Makinde are illegal and unconstitutional.
There was a Federal High Court, Ibadan ruling which ordered the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) to stop further action on the said May 12th polls and set out new action to only use the wards created by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and constitutionally recognized LGAs in the conduct of the elections. But the OYSIEC disobeyed the order and conducted elections into wards created by it thereby giving illegal political structures to local council development and local government areas created by the Oyo State House of Assembly and the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Consequent upon the subsistence of the Federal High Court order, the new governor, Seyi Makinde have no option than to obey the subsisting ruling, so, he wrote the assembly and dissolved both OYSIEC and the illegal Council executives.
On the floor of Oyo State House of Assembly, the assembly did not only give unanimously approval to the decision of the governor to dissolve the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), the lawmakers also declared the election conducted by the state electoral body on May 12, 2018 as unconstitutional, ultra vires, null and void.
All peace- loving Nigerians should call the Attorney General of the Federation to order. He should look into the ways he is carrying about his duty, his actions are lately becoming unconstitutional and heating up the polity. Functions of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation are expressly spelt out in Section 174(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). What he did on issue of Amotekun and doing on the issue of Oyo councils now, are clear abuse of power, he does not have the jurisdiction to pronounce judgements. He should please exercise his powers with regard to public interest and avoid their abuse.
We should also ask the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, to have a restraint on directing the Oyo Commissioner of Police to reinstate the dissolved council executives based on the wrong and illegal advice of the Attorney General of the Federation.
What law will the Inspector General be relying on to activate outcome of an exercise which negated the provisions of Section 4(a), Part II, Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) which recognised conduct of election into local government areas.?
What law will the police rely on to bring back to office, people who were produced by an election that clearly contravened Section 5(a) of the OYSIEC Law 1999 that only empowered the state electoral commission to organize elections into local government councils not LCDAs?
Yes, the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a five man panel headed by Justice Olubolade in a unanimous judgement delivered on December 11, 2019 stripped state governors and legislative houses of the power to sack elected local government (LG) chairmen and councillors, but are those the AGF advised the IGP to reinstate actually elected in the eyes of any law in Nigeria?
Having said all these, we should also call on the state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde to immediately dissolve the unconstitutional caretaker executives put in place and allow the state electoral commission to in accordance with Para 4(a) Part II(B) Third Schedule of the Constitution commence processes by which proper executives would be put in place in only the local government areas recognized in the Part I, Schedule I of the same Constitution through the ballot. Following the part of his predecessor by organising polls into LCDAs will be total illegality as that will be an illegal amendment of the Constitution as set out in Section 9 of the same Constitution.
Akinloye Oyeneyin
Legislative Consultant and Public Affairs Analyst
