Governor Seyi Makinde has said that the government will set up members of the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) to conduct fresh elections into the 33 local government areas of the state.
The Governor made the remarks on Thursday while appearing on a live television programme at the State-Owned Radio and Television programmes, Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) as parts of events to mark the first hundred days in office as the Eight Executive Governor of the state.
Fielding questions on the Government plans for the local government in the face of the sack of the chairmen, Governor Makinde noted that his administration met a situation that left many litigations hanging on the legality of the last LG polls conducted by the immediate past administration but that many of the cases had been dispensed with.
He said, his administration is working to ensure that it does not fall into the same trap of his predecessors who conducted election into all the 33 LGAs and additional 35LCDAs against the constitution of the country which only recognized the 33 council areas.
Makinde said “We are working on the Council Chairmen. When we came in, we observed that there were lapses on the local governments and especially how the elections were conducted. But we thank God that some of the cases have been dispensed.
“Within the next one week or thereabout, those that would conduct elections into the council areas will be inaugurated. Those we met there in office, we observed did wrong by conducting elections into more than the 33 LGAs known to the Federal Government and the constitution of Nigerian.
“We know we have LCDAs but we can only appoint chairmen in there and not conduct elections because they have not been known to the constitutions.
“We will appoint OYSIEC within the next ten days and we will conduct elections before the first quarter of next years. Give us time, local governments will not take long before elections are conducted into the council areas.”
Recall that Governor Makinde had on July 4, dissolved the board of OYSIEC, promising to offset the salaries and allowance of about two years left to the expiration of their tenure.
