I Will Not Contest In Council Polls Again – Abass-Aleshinloye

Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, Chairman of Oyo State Chapter of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), has vowed to never vie for the office of local government chairman.


He was the Chairman of Oluyole local government of Oyo State before the laying off of the council bosses by Governor Seyi Makinde on May 29, 2019.


The following legal tussle over the sack lasted about two years and the All Progressive Congress-led Chairmen across the 33 local government and 35 local council development areas in the state, came out victorious.


The election that brought the chairmen in held in 2018 at the twilight of the second term tenure of late Ex-Governor Abiola Ajimobi.


He went further to explain the justification of his struggles to ensure that the matter was settled legally, Aleshinloye said he and his colleagues were more concerned about the development of democracy at the grassroots.


Adding that the lesson from the legal battle is to warn politicians especially Executive governors respect the country’s rule of law and democracy.


He complained that although the judgement went in favour of the illegally sacked chairmen, the state as a whole would be the one to bear the brunt.

A situation whereby the court could have ruled that the payment of the salary and allowances of the illegally sacked chairmen and councillors be paid from the personal purse of the governor who pronounced the sack said Abass-Aleshinloye.

He said, “The lesson to be learnt is for all those who don’t ordinarily believe in the rule of law and who don’t believe in democracy, because if you don’t believe in rule of law, you won’t believe in democracy.”