Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has declared that he will not remunerate the dismissed local government chairmen until he is directed to do so by the Supreme Court.
Makinde made this statement in Ibadan on Saturday while discussing the garnishee order on state government accounts recently obtained from an Abuja Federal High Court by the local government chairmen he dismissed in 2019.
Justice A.O. Ebong had on December 15 issued an order attaching the state government’s accounts in 10 commercial banks in the country.
Ebong issued the order while ruling on a garnishee proceeding initiated by the local government chairmen dismissed by Makinde on May 29, 2019.
The Supreme Court had on May 7, 2021, nullified the dismissal of the chairmen and councillors, as declared by the governor on the day of his inauguration for his first term in office in 2019.
The dismissed council chairmen, however, secured a N4,874,889,425.60 judgment against the state governor and other officials and agencies of the state. About N1.5bn had been paid, leaving a balance of N3.5bn.
In his reaction to the court ruling, Makinde stated that his government would not succumb to pressure to pay the state’s money into the wrong hands until all legal avenues were exhausted.
He insisted that the dismissal of the former council chairmen in 2019 was justified because their elections were not constitutional.
The governor also described the ruling obtained from the Federal High Court in Abuja as an abuse of court process.
“The ex-LG chairmen will not get a dime until the Supreme Court asks us to pay. I will not pay wrong people. This is a government that is based on the constitution,” Makinde stated.
Also responding to the alleged conversion of Agodi forest to a housing estate, Makinde said those protesting against the move were ill-advised. He maintained that the decision would benefit the state both economically and in terms of security.