Former Local Government Chairmen and Councillors sacked by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State in 2019, on Wednesday, claimed that some of their colleagues have died as a result of hardship.
According to them, no fewer than 27 of their colleagues have died due to their predicament in the last four years.
They lamented that their colleagues died as a result of lack of money to take care of their health challenges owing to non-payment of their entitlements by Governor Makinde.
Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, former Chairman, Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) made the disclosure while addressing newsmen on behalf of other sacked chairmen and councillors in Ibadan.
Information Nigeria had reported earlier that the Governor disclosed that the ex-Local Government Chairmen and Councillors were distracting his government.
However, Abass-Aleshinloye insisted that they have no skeleton in their cupboards.
READ ALSO: Oyo: ‘I’ll Not Pay Ex-LG Chairmen, Until Supreme Court Says Otherwise’ – Gov. Makinde
He lamented that the Governor had refused to pay their entitlements amounting to N4.8 billion, adding that Makinde paid only N1.5 billion in two batches in 2021 and 2022, out of the N4.8 billion he was mandated to pay by the Supreme Court.
According to him, “This media briefing is very important as it concerned the recent media chat by Governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde. We need to address some issues. We have no skeleton in our cupboard.
“27 of us that we are in this struggle together have died. I am talking about former chairmen and councillors. Some of them could not get money to take care of their health challenges and this resulted into their death. We have been in the struggle since four years ago.
“Our lawyer is taking every necessary step, we will explore all legal means. We have our own technical advisers too.
“Our entitlements is N7.2 billion, they pleaded and we said that we will collect N4.8 billion in the interest of the state. They only paid N1.5 billion in two batches. One in 2021 and one in 2022. Since then, they have refused to pay.
“The Supreme Court gave the judgement the same day to Katsina state and they have paid.”
