Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has suspended the recently appointed caretaker committees for the local government and council development areas following a court order.
The suspension was announced on Wednesday in a letter from the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
Adewale Alonge signed the letter for the permanent secretary of the ministry.
In the letter seen by Peoples Gazette, Mr Aiyedatiwa frowned at politicians parading themselves as chairmen and members of the caretaker committee despite a court order stopping their inauguration.
He, however, ordered the heads of Local Government Administration (HOLGAs) in all the LGAs/LCDAs to immediately assume responsibility as the head of the respective LGAs/ LCDAs in an acting capacity pending the resolution of all legal matters.
The letter stated, “It has come to the notice of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs that despite the suspension of all recently appointed Caretaker Committee members for Local Government (LGAS) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAS) in the state by a Court of competent jurisdiction, some individuals in these former positions are still parading themselves in that posts.
“Consequently, I have been directed to request the Heads of Local Government Administration (HOLGAs) in all the LGAs/LCDAs to immediately assume responsibility as head of their respective Local Government Areas/LCDAs in acting capacity pending the resolution of all legal matters relating to this subject.”
It added, “Furthermore, I have also been asked to request all HOLGAs to retrieve, without delay, all assets and properties of the LGAs/LCDAs with these former caretaker chairmen, vice-chairmen and other members and to safely keep them within their respective Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas.”
The suspension came after the Akure Division of the Ondo High Court in November restrained then-Governor Rotimi Akeredolu from inaugurating the newly appointed caretaker committees for the 51 LGAs and LCDAs. Justice Yemi Fasanmi of the high court, who restrained the late governor, had granted an interlocutory injunction to the Peoples Democratic Party, stopping the inauguration of the caretakers’ committees.
The PDP had approached the court in a suit marked AK/390/2023, praying that the lower court stop Mr Akeredolu from inaugurating the Interim Management Committees for the LGAs and LCDAs.
The court also restrained the Ondo House of Assembly speaker and the attorney general, joint defendants in the case, from inaugurating the committee.
