Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The 13 suspended council chairmen in Oyo State have written an apology letter to the state House of Assembly, and requested that the indefinite suspension should be lifted for them to be reinstated.
The suspended council chairmen comprised those administering five local governments and eight Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs). The local governments are Ido, Oluyole, Ibadan North East, Itesiwaju and Oyo East. Also, the affected LCDAs are Akinyele East, Lagelu West, Soro, Ogbomoso Central, Ogbomoso South West, Ajorosun, Ibarapa North West and Oyo South East.
The lawmakers slammed the council chairmen with an indefinite suspension on Tuesday November 3, 2020 over their failure to submit reports on the earth moving equipment in their respective domains to the House Committee on Local Government, Chieftaincy Matters and State Honours, as directed through a resolution of the House.
The committee chairman, Olusegun Popoola, representing Ibadan South East Constituency II, had in the report on the status of earth moving equipment in the 33 local governments and 35 local council development areas (LCDAs) of the state last Tuesday, recommended the affected chairmen for the suspension.
His words: “Pursuant to a resolution of the House on Wednesday 14th October, 2020, that local governments and local council development areas with outstanding reports on earth moving equipment should submit their reports to the committee on Local Government, Chieftaincy Matters and State Honours, on or before Friday 23rd October, 2020, and failure to comply to attract likely sanction of the Transition Committee Chairmen of defaulting local governments and LCDAs.”
The committee recommended that the 13 council chairmen should be “placed on indefinite suspension for non-compliance with the resolution of the House on submission of status of earth moving equipment in their respective domains to the House as requested,” and the recommendation was approved immediately.
The Speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, who had last condemned the attitude of the sanctioned council chairmen, has also called for a fresh probe of the defence put up by the sanctioned chairmen. The council chairmen attributed their failure to submit the report to what they described as ‘administrative lapses’.
They, however, said the administrative lapses were not a deliberate attempt to undermine the powers of the legislative arm, as they appealed to the house to temper justice with mercy and reconsider its earlier stance on the suspension.
But the Speaker, in his remarks, said House is interested in the administrative lapses that led to the failure to submit the reports. He then referred the letter to the House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, ordering the committee to report back to the house during its next plenary.