LG crisis: Osun Assembly nullifies removal, suspension of council bosses

 SIKIRU OBARAYESE, Osogbo

The Osun State House of Assembly has annulled the purported suspension and impeachment of the chairman, Olorunda Local Government and Osogbo South Local Council Development Area boss, Munirudeen Anisu and Akeem Olaoye, respectively, saying the procedure followed was faulty.

The Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Timothy Owoeye, said this on Monday at plenary after receiving the separate reports of the joint Committees on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Judiciary, Legal Matters, Public Petitions and Human Rights on the crisis between the Parliamentarians in the councils and their chairmen.

It would be recalled that following the purported impeachment of council boss, the Assembly as part of its intervention to forestall breakdown of law and order, had ordered the parliamentarians to vacate the council pending the completion of its investigation.

The House concluded that the process of removal of Hon. Akeem from the position of the chairman of Osogbo South LCDA had been concluded before taken to the Assembly which has faulted the process.

The report further stated, “The council committed procedural error by the completion of the impeachment processes and forwarded the same to the House for ratification and investigation.”

In the other report, the Osun Assembly concluded that the four parliamentarians of the Olorunda Local Government that endorsed the notification of suspension of the chairman committed procedural error by the outright suspension of the chairman and forwarded the same to the House.

The Speaker noted that the Parliamentarians have the power to remove/impeach the Chairmen but such power could not be exercised without following the necessary procedure.

He noted that the Parliamentarians failed to follow laid-down procedure as contained in section 19 (a) (b) (c) and (d) of the State of Osun Local Government Areas (Creation and Administration) Law, 2015 for the removal of the Chairman.

“The House of Assembly under my watch will not hesitate to do the needful on any Chairman found wanting if the procedure is right. The House has not dropped the petition forwarded by the parliamentarians, but the House cannot work on a faulty procedure”, Owoeye stated..

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