Newspapers: Court bars Ondo council chiefs from secretariats

 

Court bars Ondo council chiefs from secretariats
From Julius Alabi, Akure

AN Akure High Court yesterday restrained the 18 local council chairmen and their councillors from parading themselves as council chairmen and members of their Legislative arm pending the determination of the case before it.

Justice Nelson Adeyanju, while ruling on the interlocutory application brought by the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, through his counsel, Mr. John Baiyeshea (SAN), said the plaintiffs -chairmen and the councillors - and their agents are also restrained from administering or acting in any other form or disrupting activities of the 18 local councils in the state until the case is determined.

Baiyeshea had already told the court that his client, Mimiko, had written an undertaking that he would not constitute any caretaker committee until the determination of the case.

Mimiko had on March 4, 2009 dissolved the executive and legislative arms of all the 18 councils on the ground of a court ruling restraining the former administration of Dr. Olusegun Agagu from conducting council elections of December 15, 2007 which brought the council members in.

However, the 18 council chairmen acting on an "Order" from Abuja forcefully entered into their secretariats accompanied by fully armed policemen.

Adeyanju said: "In view of the undertaking entered into by the governor, no caretaker committee nominees should be constituted or elected to run the affairs of the council until the case is determined.

Baiyeshea, while moving a motion for the interlocutory application to restrain the chairmen from taking any step towards take-over of the council secretariats by forcefully, said their actions, if permitted, were capable of disrupting the smooth running and administration of the councils pending the final hearing of the substantial suit.

According to him: "We have filed a reply to the counter-affidavit of the plaintiffs and we rely on the affidavit in support and we want the court to determine whether the chairmen are justified on the legal processes that brought them to office. We also refer your lordship to Paragraphs 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of our affidavit.

"Also, the status quo we are saying is that the dissolution has taken place and the plaintiffs have ceased to be in office since March 4, 2009 which they have accepted. The legal right of the governor is based on Section 5 (2) and 7 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," he said.

Mimiko's counsel added that there was no evidence that local government workers were instigated by the state government and that there was no place in their affidavit that they have been functioning in their offices since the dissolution of the councils.

"My lord, the status quo is that they are out of office but trying to force themselves into the office. And since they have joined issues in the court, they should not have done any extra-judicial activities by forcing themselves in office again," he noted.

Baiyeshea argued that "the balance of conveniences favour the plaintiffs in view of the fact that the workers have stayed away since their action and we cannot sacrifice all the 18 local governments for just 18 persons who stand to be compensated for any damage if the case goes in their favour. My Lord, we have entered into an undertaking if at the end of the day, they are favoured."

The plaintiffs' counsel, Otunba Kunle Kalejaiye (SAN), said he agreed with the total position of the application, saying that the interlocutory application was what the defendant wanted the court to determine and nothing more.

He argued that the defendant could not restrain the council bosses from parading themselves as council chairmen unless the governor agreed that they still occupied that position in which they were to be restrained.

"Our argument is that the status quo as known to law, as, with peaceful state of affairs before the litigation and not unlawfully contravene state of affairs before the litigation. My counter- submission is that the constitution did not give the governor a blank arbitrary power to dissolve the councils. The governor under the constitution must act in accordance with the law," he added.

He, therefore, urged the court to discountenance the interlocutory injunction sought by the governor and strike it out accordingly.

In his ruling, Justice Adeyanju said the defendant (Mimiko) was right in his application and thereby restrained the councils' chiefs from parading themselves as chairmen pending the determination of the substantive suit.

He however adjourned the case to April 29, 2009 for the hearing of the substantive suit.