‘Our Concern Was Neither The Money Nor The Office, But The Need to Deepen Democracy At The Grassroots’ – Oyo ALGON Chair, Abass Aleshinloye Reiterates

‘Our Concern Was Neither The Money Nor The Office, But The Need to Deepen Democracy At The Grassroots’ – Oyo ALGON Chair, Abass Aleshinloye Reiterates.

The Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria(ALGON), Oyo State chapter, Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye has, on behalf of the association, given reason they rejected Governor Seyi Makinde’s pay-off offer, but rather stuck to what would be the outcome of the legal battle.

Governor Makinde had on Monday through his Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, said, he would comply with the judgement of the Supreme Court that ruled that the illegally sacked council helmsmen be paid their salary and allowances for the duration of their tenure that they were sacked.

Speaking on behalf of the council chiefs, during a ‘Thank you visit’ to legal luminary, Chief Niyi Akintola SAN at his Agodi residence, in Ibadan, the Chairman of Oyo ALGON, Aleshinloye, maintained that the association deliberately took the decision so as not to be part of the government’s corruption.

He noted that the concern of the chairmen was neither the money nor the office, as wrongly claimed by the governor, but the need to deepen democracy at the grassroots.

“How can you give me money for the work I didn’t do and I have not done. Governor Makinde wanted to pay us last year when we have not done the work. And it is not legal and at the end of the day, it is all about corruption.

“If we had collected the money, we were encouraging corruption. And anybody can come up later in the year or in the nearest future to challenge us that we collected money for the work we had not done.

“But, now, any proclamation from the Supreme Court is law. This is law. A judgement has been given, the money is due to us and we can collect it now. When he (Makinde) wanted to pay us, the question was, why will he pay us? Why will he even sack us in the first instance when the court said it’s wrong? Why would you do that? If you had done that and you said you want to pay us, that in itself is corruption, so we will never be part of a thing.

“For us, if we had collected the money at the time, and when people see us, will they not say it was all about the money?.

” But, for us, it was not about the money or the office, it is about the rule of law and I am saying it, I personally don’t ever have interest in contesting any local government elections again in my life.

“But the whole idea is for us to show that we want democracy to be entrenched at the grassroot and that is what we have done. We have laid precedence and for generations to come, the sacrifice we have made will always be enjoyed by those who will occupy the office at the local government level”, the ALGON boss added.

Meanwhile, the council bosses from the 33 Local Government Areas (LGA’s) and 35 Local Council Development Areas(LCDA’s) were in attendance to express their appreciation to Chief Akintola who provided them legal services pro-bono up until the Supreme Court.

According to Aleshinloye, “we are here to thank Barrister Niyi Akintola SAN. Like we did yesterday, we were in Ilorin to say the same thing to Barrister Yusuf Alli SAN and we couldn’t have done anything better, because Barrister Akintola identify with us being a member of the party; a leader for that matter. It is on record that he did not collect any money from us. Well, whichever way you look at it , we have to appreciate him for doing that.

“Like I said, we were with Yusuf Alli yesterday, he stood firm, and at the Supreme court , he did very well. Likewise, Barrister Kunle Sobaloju. He started this case, he won the case at the High Court and he handled several filings on behalf of ALGON, the young gentleman needs also to be appreciated. We will make sure that we visit him as well; same with Seun Abimbola”, he continued.

Remarking, the Oyo APC Gubernatorial Aspirant, Chief Akintola informed that he decided to offer free legal service to the embattled council bosses as parts of his contributions to the development and progress of the party.

Akintola attributed his commitment to the progressive fold and sacrificial services to some of the lessons he learnt from the late Cicero, Chief Bola Ige. He charged the party faithful and leaders, in attendance, on the need to be united.