BOLU-OLU ESHO, Akure
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been warned not to embark on fruitless journey of appealing the judgement that nullified the creation of 33 Local Council Development Areas(LCDAs) as proposed by the governor.
The governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Hon Olugbenga Edema warned the governor on Sunday not to waste the taxpayers’ money.
In a statement signed by the spokesman for Edema Campaign Organisation, Mr. Israel Ayeni, the NNPP candidate described the proposed appeal as “self-seeking, deceitful and an after thought coming after he has been thoroughly criticised in the manner he handled the LCDAs issue.”
Edema noted that “Governor Aiyedatiwa should have looked at the petitions of the aggrieved communities across the state administratively to resolve the imbroglio over the LCDAs before the case was instituted in the first place, instead of allowing the case to drag for months in the law court.”
He reminded the people of the state that Governor Aiyedatiwa was the acting governor and even presided over the State Executive Council meeting that approved the numbers of the LCDAs that were nullified by the court.
Edema, who defected from All Progressives Congress(APC) to NNPP due to non conformity to Electoral Act in the party’s primary, said the governor had ample opportunity to take into consideration the agitation of the people over the numbers, distribution and delineation of the council areas.
The Barrister at Law alleged that “going on appeal after the lower court has delivered its judgment is just to create some largesse for his cronies in the legal profession and some officers in the state in the name of legal fee, consultancy fee and other ancillary expenses.”
He emphasised that “What the Local Government Areas need now is their autonomy to perform their functions as enshrined in the Fourth schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), so they can deliver the dividends of democracy to the people at the grassroots.
“Return their markets and allow them to collect all their constitutionally guaranteed rates and revenues, which you have taken away and given to your cronies under the guise of raising the revenue of the state.”
Assessing Governor Aiyedatiwa’s six months in office as the substantive governor of the state, the former representative of the state on the board of Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) said “the six months of Aiyedatiwa in office is a colossal failure.
“There was nothing tangible Governor Aiyedatiwa has done with the resources that have accrued to the state from the federation account since he took over on December 27 last year.
“Six months is long enough to make an impact, just like the late General Murtala Mohammed did when he took over as military head of state in 1976.
“The prices of food were reduced considerably within Murtala’s six months in office. He created seven additional states and also laid the foundation for the establishment of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja within the six months that the late general ruled the entire country. That is visionary leadership.”
Edema pointed out that “all ongoing projects embarked upon by the late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu have been abandoned while no new one was initiated since he(Aiyedatiwa)assumed office six months ago.”
The NNPP candidate, however, alleged that the governor was “warehousing funds meant for the development of the state to buy voters’ conscience during the November 16 governorship election.”