Sequel to the judgement that stopped the conduct of local Councils election on Oyo State
Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has concluded plans to appoint new caretaker chairmen for each of the 33 local government councils.
This comes few days after a Federal High Court, Abuja, granted an injunction restraining the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) from conducting the planned LG election following a case brought before it by some village heads (Baales) in Oyo East, Oyo West an Atiba LGs.
The court also ordered that the allocation to LGs in the state be stopped pending the resolution of the case.
It was learnt that at a meeting he presided over on Wednesday at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan, Ajimobi disclosed that he was going to appoint caretaker chairmen for the Local Governments pending the resolution of the case in court.
According to a source privy to the meeting, the governor told the party executives led by its chairman, Chief Akin Oke, that he has every right to choose candidates for the LG election since he remains the leader of the party in the state, adding that nobody among the state Excos became a member of the Executives of the party through election but through consensus and selection.
It was also gathered that while the party had preferred primaries, the governor, wanted a consensus arrangement, before the court granted the injunction.
Out of the first set of chairmen appointed by Ajimobi during his first term in office, only four were re-appointed after the governor was sworn-in for the second term.
They are: Wasiu Olatubosun, Najeemdeen Bolaji, Yekeen Popoola and Saheed Adejare of Ibadan North West, Ibadan South East, Irepo and Iseyin LGs.
With the latest development, the LG bosses who were planning to contest in the suspended elections in order to retain their seats, may now lose out as word has it that Ajimobi plans to shove them aside for persons of his choice.
Our source said the governor had even wanted them disqualified from the primaries but the party Exco prevailed in maintaining that they are qualified to contest the primaries and get elected if they scale through.
It was also gathered that last Monday, before the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) postponed its primaries following the injunction, the governor invited the party executives to his office. He was said to have told them to nominate 10 people from each of the LGs who would in turn vote to elect candidates for election, a suggestion that angered the party leaders.