On War Path

 

By Nehru Odeh

On Wednesday 4 March, Ondo state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, dissolved the executive and legislative arms of the 18 local councils in the state. Mimiko’s explanation for his action was that the ousted Olusegun Agagu administration disregarded a court order restraining it from conducting the local council election on 15 December 2007.

mimiko-segun-2-jj

Mimiko’s unilateral action did not go down well with members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state who saw the governor’s action as not only an affront on the party, but also unconstitutional and illegal.

In an advertorial signed by Hon. Kele Bolodeoku, Chairman, House Committee on Information and Orientation, and published in a national daily on Thursday 5 March, the Ondo State House of Assembly said Mimiko reneged on an earlier agreement with the House on Monday 2 March not to dissolve the local government councils in the state. It also stated that the governor has no power to do so, citing Section 12(4) of the Local Government Amendment Act.

The House of Assembly, in that advertorial not only declared the dissolution order null and void, it ordered the sacked council chiefs to remain in their positions and offices. In another advertorial published in that same newspaper, the Ondo state chapter of the PDP vowed to resist what it termed an illegality. “The Local Government Law 2007 forbids the governor from tampering, tinkering, suspending and dissolving local governments without a resolution of the state Assembly,” the advertorial read. It therefore, ordered the sacked council chiefs to “stay put at their desks and discharge their responsibilities placed on them by the law”.Mimiko, however, defended his action, hinging it on the advice he received from the state solicitor-general. But on Monday 16 March, the 18 sacked local council chairmen and councillors made good their threat. They defied the dissolution order and resumed duties at the council secretariats with full security provided by men of the Nigeria Police. The council chiefs told newsmen that they reinstated themselves based on the directive they got from the presidency.

According to sources close to TheNEWS, the leadership of the Ondo State PDP met with President Yar’Adua at the Presidential Villa in the weekend preceding the reinstatement. After listening to the complaints of the Ondo State PDP, it dawned on Yar’Adua that the dissolution was ultimately the death knell of the PDP in the state. Yar’Adua, therefore, directed that the council chairmen be reinstated until after the legal tussles were resolved. The President also advised Mimiko to comply with the constitution by securing the required two-third majority needed in the state House of Assembly.

This development has further heightened the tension that had gripped the state since the local councils were dissolved. Mr. Adedayo Komolafe who doubles as the Chairman of Akure South local council and chairman of Ondo State branch of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, told newsmen that they had initially planned to meet penultimate Friday but had to reschedule it to enable them to consult with other stakeholders. He also said that the PDP chairmen resumed just to prove that the councils had not been dissolved. “The only authority that is empowered to dissolve council administrators is the House of Assembly; and as we have all seen, the leadership of the House has denounced the illegal act by the state governor.”

However, Dr. Olatunji Abayomi, in an advertorial published in a national daily on 11 March, defended Mimiko’s action, declaring the reinstatement order given by the Ondo State PDP and the state House of Assembly as “unwarranted extravagance”. The statement read: “The dissolution is a proper act commanded and compelled by Governor Mimiko’s allegiance to the constitution, our laws and the original interest of our people to freely and fairly constitute government through lawful election by the people themselves.”

Meanwhile, as tension gathers momentum in the state, Mimiko has appealed for calm, urging the citizens of the state to eschew violence. “I want to tell you categorically that the administration would resist any act of breaching the peace of the state,” he said. The governor also assured the people of his resolve to allow the court to adjudicate on the controversy stirred by the dissolution of the councils.

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