Knocks Trail Ondo New Local Councils, Govt Says Fake List In Circulation

By Ayodele Oni

Rather than unite and bring development to the people, the planned move by the Ondo State Government to create additional Local Councils is causing acrimony and disaffection among communities.

After last week’s State Executive Council meeting, Government announced the creation of 33 Local Government Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.

The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, who disclosed this, explained that a bill to that effect is before the state assembly while details of the new LCDA would be made public later.

However, a list purportedly released by government surfaced in the social media on Tuesday, which gave details of the new councils and their headquarters.

Some communities, irked that their names were missing from the new LCDA headquarters, rejected the creation and accused the state government of partiality in the allocation of the councils.

One of them, Ode Aye, protested siting of headquarters of the Ikale North Local Council Development Area at Ilu tuntun  instead of Ode Aye, saying that Ode Aye had all resources to be the headquarters.

The people, who blocked the entrance of the state House of Assembly, carried platforms with different inscriptions such as: “ Ode Aye Can never be Under Igbotako”, “ Avoid Political Brouhaha Between Okitipupa Constituency I and Constituency 2”, and “ We Reject Ikale North LCDA with Igbotako as Headquarters.”

Speaking to newsmen during the protest, Chief Isaac Omogoroye, said that it was an aberration for the newly created LCDA of Ikale North not to be sited at Ode Aye.

“We thank Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu for creating some 33 LCDA. We, from Ode Aye Kingdom, Constituency 2 presented a paper for Ikale North LCDA with headquarters at Ode Aye.

“And our paper was well documented and accepted by the state House of Assembly and the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters.

“Last week, when the creation of LCDA was approved by the State Executive Council ( SEC) and we heard that the headquarters of Ikale North LCDA is Igbotako which is in Constituency one that our request, which is Ikale North LCDA was approved but the headquarters was changed.

“And that is why we are here, to inform the Speaker and other honourable members in the House of Assembly  that we, vehemently,  reject approval of the headquarters to Igbotako. We are demanding that the government must revert the decision because we requested for the Ikale North.

More communities in the state are expected to react to the new councils, whose creation has been faulted by opposition political parties.

To douse further reaction, the state government through the Attorney General, Charles Titiloye, in a statement explained that the list bring circulated on the social media was fake.

The statement : “Ihas come to the attention of the Ondo State Government that unconfirmed lists of Local Councils Development Areas and their headquarters is currently in circulation on the social media and other online platforms.

“To avoid confusion and misinformation on the creation of LCDA, Members of the public are advised to disregard this unofficial list of LCDA(s). This list was not released officially by the Ondo State Government.

“The Government wishes to inform the general public that Creation of LCDA is strictly a constitutional process. List of Local Council Development Areas can only be properly ascertained from Ondo State Government official Gazette duly issued after passage of the enabling Law by Ondo state House of Assembly and the law is assented to by the Governor of the State

“Also the communities in each of the created LCDA will be published in the white Paper to be issued by the Government in respect of the recommendations of the Committee set up on the Creation of LCDA(S).

“Members of the public are therefore advised to await these official legal documents to be issued by the Ondo state Government in order to get the correct position of Government on the creation of Local Government Council Development Areas in Ondo State.

“The process to put in place the LCDA(s) and release the relevant Government instruments is ongoing and very soon Government will make it public.”