Members of the dissolved Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) have described the plan of the state governor, Mr Seyi Makinde to constitute another electoral commission as disregard for the rule of law.
Makinde had last Wednesday approved the composition of OYSIEC comprising eight persons and subsequently forwarded names of the nominated members to the state House of Assembly for screening and confirmation.
Pointing to its institution of a case at the industrial court challenging its “illegal” dissolution, the Mr Olajide Ajeigbe-led OYSIEC said the decision of the Makinde-led government to nominate members of a new commission, despite being served notice of their pending case, was unfortunate.
In the separate suits filed at the National Industrial Court, the Chairman and members of OYSIEC had challenged the “premature” dissolution and termination of their tenure of office as Chairman and members of the Commission.
In an accompanying letter, the claimants had also warned the government not to take any step to overreach or disregard the jurisdiction of the National Industrial Court, but respect the rule of law by ensuring nothing is done to appoint anyone into OYSIEC while the cases were pending.
While urging Makinde to respect the rule of law, Ajeigbe, in the statement made available to journalists, also drew the governor’s attention to his promise to pay all salaries and allowances due to them till the end of their tenure.
According to Ajeigbe, the state government in the letter of dissolution dated July 1, 2019, had acknowledged that its tenure was yet to expire and promised to offset all salaries and allowances that should accrue to the commission for its tenure.
He decried as rumour and inhumane the information doing that the commission had been paid the promised salaries and entitlements.
It would be recalled that the dissolved OYSIEC board, headed by Ajeigbe, was inaugurated on June 17th 2016 by former governor Abiola Ajimobi to conduct the 2017 local government election.
