The 15 Baales, who got an interim injunction from an Abuja High Court last week, stopping the federal allocations to the 33 local governments in Oyo State as well as the conduct of the LG election, has been berated by a socio-cultural group.
The group, Oyo Development Initiative (ODI), said the action of the Baales to contest the legality of some Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) has put local government administration in Oyo State in limbo.
In a statement by its Coordinator, Dr. Adesola Okanlawon, the group said while it believes that the case is already in court and some comments on it might lead to contempt, it is, however, expedient to highlight the implications of the court order on the citizens and development of the state.
He said “the plaintiffs in the suit might not have thought deeply about the implications of their action. They have issues with four LGAs and some of the newly created LCDAs. We believe they should have sought an order affecting the four disputed local governments in order not to jeopardize the welfare of the entire state.
“Perfection belongs to God and no individual can claim to be perfect. Government itself knew that there could be imbalances in the creation of LCDAs as established in 2001. Hence, the establishments of a petition review committee. These perceived imbalances should therefore not lead to the hardship for larger section of the state. The LCDAs will no doubt enhance grassroots developments and bring even distribution of dividends of democracy to the communities in the state.
“It is to be noted that the action of these Baales will affect salary payment which was not regular before. It will also impact negatively on the development at the grassroots and by extension, the general welfare of the people. In short, their action has multiplier effects and everyone in the state will bear the brunt.
“It now behoove on the state government to do the needful in order to get the injunction vacated as soon as possible. This act will make the people insinuating that the Oyo State government is behind the court case to prevent the conduct of LGs election to have a rethink that the government has nothing to do with the interim injunction”.
The group appealed to the state government to seek every legal mean to speedily resolve the impasse, saying that it is only those who do not want grassroots development that will be against the creation of LCDAs.
