Ondo: Gov Aiyedatiwa Directs LG Caretaker Members To Resume, Despite Supreme Court Order

By Ayodele Oni

Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has directed the 357 members of the Transition Committees for the 18 Council Areas, and 33 Local Council Development Areas, (LCDAs) in the State to resume office.

This is despite the Supreme Court ruling which directed the Federal Government to stop allocations to local councils which are yet to democratize or recognizing them.

The Governor, who gave the order after a meeting with Committee Members in Akure, directed them to resume duties with immediate effect, insisting that the judgement by the Apex Court would take time to come to effect.

Aiyedatiwa was represented at the meeting by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Amidu Takuro.

The Caretaker Members were picked last week just as the Supreme Court delivered judgement in the case instituted by the federal government to stop state governors from tampering with Local Councils’ funds.

Justifying the government action, Mr Takuro pointed out that Ondo was not the only state affected by the apex court’s verdict.

Takuro said: “No fewer than 21 states are affected and this is not peculiar to Ondo State alone. The governors will be meeting in Abuja during the week and there is still room for negotiations and there’s no need for rush.

“Judgement does not take immediate effect, even at that, we cannot conduct local government election immediately. There are procedures for election, so, we will study the judgement.

“Again, the Federal Government will not want to punish the local government workers by withholding their salaries or getting their allocation to them, though we have no option than to concur with the judgement, it cannot be immediately.”

The State Independent Electoral Commission (ODSIEC) had last week postponed Indefinitely the conduct of the local government government election in the state as no political parties showed interest.

The the non recognition of the newly created 33 LCDAs in the state is another issue confronting the administration.

In view of the governorship election coming up in November, the Administration is likely to be more pre occupied by the poll, since Governor Aiyedatiwa is among the contestants.