ONI’s AIDE WARNS FAYEMI ON COUNCIL DISSOLUTION

By Lere Olayinka

Ekiti State by the State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has been warned

on the dare consequences of his dissolution of Local Government

Councils in the State in flagrant disregard for the rule of law.

Wale Ojo-Lanre, Chief Media Aide to former governor of the State,

Chief Olusegun Oni, who reacted to the invasion of some Local

Government secretariats today by armed thugs said; “it is worrisome

that Fayemi, a product of due process of law is the one carrying out

acts that are not only illegal but also immoral.”
Ojo-Lanre said since the State Government itself had agreed that by

the provision of the State Local Government Administration (Amendment)

Law No. 6 of 200, the House of Assembly must ratify the dissolution,

the House should be allowed to either ratify or reject the dissolution

before trying to force the duly elected council officials out of

office with the use of armed thugs.”
“Today, thugs invaded Ado and Ikere Local Governments secretariat,

shooting sporadically into the air to chase people out of the office.

Several people were injured by these invaders, whose only brief is to

scare duly elected council chairmen and councillors away from office.

"It is sad that these are the same people sermonising about the rule

of law. It is even more worrisome that their collaborators in the

human rights and pro democracy organisations are not speaking against

this affront on the Constitution.
“If truly these people have respect for the rule of law, Fayemi and

those urging him on should have allowed for the House of Assembly to

ratify the dissolution before giving effect to it.
“By the law that Fayemi said he relied on, the dissolution must be

ratified for it to take effect. In other words, there is no

dissolution yet!
“It is like a game of football. Any of the 22 players on the field has

the right to put the ball in the net by whatever means. But a ball in

the net is not a goal until the referee says so.
“In this case, Fayemi is the player while the House of Assembly is the referee.

“Fayemi should therefore be civil enough to allow the House performs

its Constitutional duty of either ratifying the dissolution or

rejecting it. Anything other than this is an invitation to anarchy and

I am sure the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) government knows the

implication of throwing the State into chaos,” Ojo-Lanre said.

While reiterating his call on the elected council officials to ignore

the dissolution and go about with the performance of their

constitutional duties, Ojo-Lanre said; “As at today, no dissolution

has been done. So, the elected council officials should continue to

perform their duties and guard against the usurpation of their

mandates by those who are pretending to be apostles of rule of law.”