REINSTATED COUNCIL CHAIRMEN: We Commend Market Women For Shunning Adeleke's Abortive Meeting - Osun APC Applauds Their Stance

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has commended the market women in the state for shunning the meeting called by the state government on the lingering controversy over the unfounded and spurious allegation of the collection of revenues at the local government council areas by the reinstated local government chairmen and councillors.

The state deputy governor, Mr Kola Adewusi, who represented the state Governor Ademola Adeleke, at the scheduled meeting with the market women on Tuesday at the Governor's Office, was highly disappointed on Tuesday when he got to the venue of the meeting which was virtually empty as the site of empty chairs was the lot of the event.

The deputy governor who was addressing almost empty chairs as those who constituted the attendees are both civil and public servants who were hastily conscripted and diverted to fill some of the empty chairs directed the make-believe market women to report any revenue collector from the reinstated local government executive chairmen to the office of the state commissioner for commerce.

We want to educate the governor that assuming without conceding that the reinstated APC local government council chairmen and councillors were collecting revenues at their respective councils, it could not be said to be an illegality as the administration of markets in the local government councils falls within the constitutional roles of the third tier of the government.

The current role of the state government in the local government councils legally being under the effective control of the reinstated APC executive local government chairmen and councillors could be likened to that of a meddlesome interloper which is against the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

The unsubstantiated allegation of the Governor Adeleke-led government that the reinstated APC council executives were collecting revenues was spurious as it was stage-managed in order for the unpopular Adeleke government to curry unmerited sympathy of the people of the state who have seen that his government has nothing to add any substantial value to the socio-economic development of the state.

It is not the plan of the reinstated APC local government council executive chairmen under the leadership of Hon Abiodun Idowu, the recognized Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) state chairman, to add to the burden of  the people of the state who have already been pauperized by the numerous anti-people policies of Governor Adeleke-led administration which is the reason they have decided not to collect the revenues from the already oppressed market women.

If the embattled Governor Adeleke is genuinely serious and busy with the active governance of the state, he would not have any reason to call any frivolous meeting by proxy which was shunned by the serious-minded market women.

It was because the market women knew that there was no substance in the allegation of the state government against the reinstated council chairmen which made them to concentrate on their businesses that would put food on their tables.

We, as a party, are commending the market women in Osun State for shunning the state government's frivolous meeting which aim was to set them against the legally-elected and Court of Appeal-reinstated APC council chairmen and councillors

e-SIGNED:

Mogaji KOLA OLABISI,            Osun State APC Director of Media and Information.