Newspapers: PDP plots emergency rule in Ondo, says Mimiko

From Niyi Bello and Julius Alabi, Akure

ONDO State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, yesterday accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of causing problems for his three-week old administration with the aim of "having a state of emergency proclaimed in this state."

The governor in a state-wide broadcast on radio and television referred to what he called "armed invasion of Ondo State Local Government secretariats by former PDP council chairmen" as a major step taken by the PDP to undermine the state authority and cause a breakdown of law and order.

On Monday, under heavy security cover provided by Police and other law enforcement agencies, all the 18 council chairmen and their councillors returned to the council secretariats claiming that the Presidency had ordered their return to office.

Mimiko, who thanked the people for standing by him during "the 22 months of legal struggle to reclaim your stolen mandate", recalled the circumstances that surrounded what he called the "illegal" emergence of the PDP council administrators and the steps he had taken to address the situation in his March 4 dissolution of the council political leadership.

According to him: "It is significant to note that the dissolution of the local council operatives was widely applauded by the generality of our people. Not a single incident of crisis or violence was recorded across the state. Rather, the people celebrated this definitive return to the path of democracy."

He said he was happy when these chairmen decided to institute a court action against the dissolution but "surprisingly however, reports reaching me indicate that the erstwhile chairmen, without waiting for the outcome of the court action, brow-beat the relevant authorities to mobilise fully-armed security personnel to invade the council secretariats with a view to forcefully take over the affairs of the local councils.

"We also have information that some local government secretariats have been looted while official documents have been distorted and destroyed. It is obvious that the situation I have outlined above is being manipulated by elements in the Ondo State PDP who are yet to come to terms with their loss of power in the state in order to create an impression of instability and a sense that the state is ungovernable.

"Indeed, their goal is to create a state of anarchy and lawlessness with a view to persuading President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to declare a state of emergency in our dear state. The negative consequences of such an action are unimaginable."

The governor, however, expressed his belief that the President "who has demonstrated a very high sense of responsibility for peace, rule of law, stability and governance, not only in Ondo State but in the entire nation at large," would not do what is unjust.

While appealing to the people of the state to be law-abiding and avoid any situation that can lead to breakdown of law and order, he pledged the determination of his administration "to continue to take all necessary steps to prevent and arrest the breakdown of law and order."

Last Monday, Mimiko prayed an Akure High Court to restrain all the chairmen of the dissolved 18 local councils in the state from parading themselves as council helmsmen and particularly to forbid them from making any attempt to take over the administration of the councils, which the state government dissolved on March 4.

The governor, through his counsel, John Baiyeshea (SAN), as a defendant in the suit against the dissolution filed by the removed chairmen, also sought an order of the court barring the chairmen from doing anything that could disrupt the smooth administration of the councils "pending the determination of the substantive suit."

But one of the chairmen, Adedayo Omolafe, who is also the leader of the state branch of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), told The Guardian that "there is no court process that we instituted against the governor."

Omolafe, who is the Chairman of Akure South Local Council, said "we never instituted any action against the governor on this matter. Our position has been and still is that we are never dissolved as the governor has no power to do what he said he did. So, there was no basis for going to court at all.

"In actual fact, what the governor is seeking to do through the courts is to pre-empt us from going to our offices. We have done that on Monday even before he approached the court. It is an effort in futility. You cannot undo what you don't have power to do in the first instance."

Baiyeshea, who led nine other lawyers in a motion filed at the court, hinged the application on "the interest of justice, peace and order in the society to preserve the status quo in this matter pending the final hearing and determination thereof."

Mimiko's legal team further argued that "the governor did not need to have any sanction or resolution of the Ondo State House of Assembly before taking the action on March 4, 2009 as the Executive Governor of Ondo State with respect to the administration of local government councils in Ondo State."

They also averred that the plaintiffs "were never duly or legitimately elected as Chairmen of the Local Government Councils in Ondo State and as such cannot lay claim to have at whatever time legally presided over the said local government councils."

Meanwhile, council secretariats across the state were still deserted as Police continued to keep vigil and workers stayed at home in compliance with the directive of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) which, last Monday, directed that they should "stay away because of their personal safety."

As at 10.00 a.m. yesterday morning, two police trucks were parked in front of the Akure South Council secretariat while the chairmen and the councillors walked around the expansive complex as they could not gain access to their offices.

The ALGON chairman, who alleged that the state government was deliberately thwarting their resumption by "arm-twisting the union to bar workers from coming to office", said the council authorities would soon issue a directive for the workers to resume.