Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Three local government council chairmen were on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, suspended by the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The affected chairmen are Mr Ogidan Mukandasi Olaitan of the Lekki LCDA, Mr Suleiman Jelili of Alimosho local government area and Mr Tajudeen Ajide of the Surulere local government area.
The trio were accused of disregarding the guidelines governing their activities and at the plenary today, the state lawmakers said they decided to punish them as they could no longer continue to watch the council chairmen stubbornly flout the state’s local government guidelines.
The chairman of the House Committee on Commerce and Industry, Mr Bisi Yusuff representing Alimosho 1 constituency, informed his colleagues that alleged that the Lekki LCDA had been rude.
He said Mr Olaitan accused the lawmakers carrying out an oversight function on a memorandum of understanding in relation to the issue that arose from a resettlement programme in Lekki of being ignorant of their jobs, noting that the council chairman had total disregard for those in his domain who he was elected to govern.
According to him, his action, even as a lawyer, was an insult to true governance and respect for the authority.
Supporting Mr Yusuff, another lawmaker, Mr Fatai Mojeed (Ibeju-Lekki 1), named Mr Jelili and Mr Ajide as having issues against them that are being investigated.
He urged his colleagues to suspend the chairmen pending the outcome of the investigations and to serve as a deterrent to others.
While speaking on the matter, the Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, noted that the House had received petitions from many councillors in the state against the sitting chairmen.
Mr Obasa said the House cannot continue to watch while council chairmen flout the laws they were supposed to uphold.
“Total disregard for the local government guideline is something that should not be tolerated. We cannot continue like this. We can’t be breeding monsters in our local government councils,” Mr Obasa said.
He added that it would not be ideal to gloss over the issue as it would be creating a precedence of disobedience to the law by council chairmen especially at a time the state is planning elections for new council chairmen.
“This will also serve as a deterrent. We have received many petitions from councillors,” Mr Obasa lamented, directing the Clerk of the House, Mr Olalekan Onafeko, to write to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and others concerned about the decision of the House.
After the debate, the motion, which was moved by Mr Yusuff, was put up for a vote and it was unanimously approved by members of the House.
