…pay us through our lawyer
By Adeyinka Adeniran
Sacked Chairmen and Councillors in Oyo state under the aegis of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) have accused Governor Seyi Makinde of playing antics with the payment of their entitlements as ordered by the Supreme Court.
Speaking through its Chairman, Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, the ex-council bosses who operates under the name Forum 68 said it was surprised that the state government could be pretending that it has no record of the judgment creditors, who got a favorable judgement from the Supreme Court on May 7th, 2021, after Governor Makinde illegally and arbitrarily sent them packing from offices.
The statement reads in part “It has come to the knowledge of “Forum 68” (ex ALGON, Oyo state), that Oyo state government is pretending that it has no record again of the judgment creditors, i.e elected Chairmen and Councillors who got a favorable judgement from the Supreme Court on May 7th, 2021, after Gov. Seyi Makinde illegally and arbitrarily sent us packing from offices.
“It will be recalled that the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court ordered the governor to pay our salaries and allowances, and he got a fine for his action by consciously breaching the nation’s constitution.
“After much delay and deliberate disobedience of the Supreme Court judgement, Gov. Seyi Makinde paid a tranche of the judgment debt of N1,5billion out of N4,874,889,425.60.
“The state government made a promise to pay the balance of the judgment debt within six months as stated by the then honourable Attorney General of the state in his letter dated 13/12/2021.
“The state governor failed to pay and started playing hanky panky by rushing to a High Court to technically appeal against the Supreme Court judgement that he would not pay as expressly stated by the Supreme Court in a judgment written in simple, unambiguous english language.
“The antic of such absurd legal rigmarole at a huge cost to the state is to deny or delay payment of our money ordered to be paid by the Supreme Court.
“The Governor should be reminded the aphorism of Thomas Fulller that: “be you ever so high, the law is above you”. It is a judgment debt he must pay.
“So calling some members of ex ALGON individually, as some state officials have been doing to remind the state government of our numbers, tenure, salaries and allowances is laughable and elementary.
“The state government has all the information about us in its record, court documents, and in the files it used to pay us the first tranche. What the Governor is pretending to look for in Sokoto town is right there in his Sokoto (pocket) if he is sincere.
“After the garnishee of the state government’s accounts as ordered by the high court, the governor has issued threats publicly to “deal with us” for being lawful, persistent and resolute in seeking the course of justice legally through the courts as democrats who believe in the rule of law.
“Lastly, if the governor truly wants to pay his debt which he must pay, he has all the information at his disposal. And in line with our (Forum 68) ex ALGON resolution, and a positive order of the court granted with the consent of His Excellency’s counsel, the Governor knows that the payment must be paid through our solicitors account.
“It is on record that even without a court order the sum of N1.5billion was paid to us through the client account of our then Solicitors i.e Adeniyi Akintola SAN&Co.
“Therefore, payment of our entitlement should be paid through our lawyer, who has power of attorney to receive on our behalf as supported by the court. We remain resolute.
Effort to get the reaction of the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sulaimon Olanrewaju proved abortive as calls and messages to his phone lines were not connecting as at the time of this report.
