• Say Aiyedatiwa flouting court judgment
• Call for equity, minimum of eight new councils for Akoko region

A coalition of the people of Akoko in the northern senatorial district of Ondo State has urged Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to dissolve the 33 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) operating in the state, whose creation had been nullified by a High Court.

The people, under the umbrella of the Akoko Development Initiative (ADI), comprising the Akoko Development Group (ADG), the Akoko Consultative Forum (ACF), and the Oka Community, while demanding the commencement of a fresh, lawful process for their creation, requested the judgment delivered in 2024 by Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye of the Ondo State High Court.

In a statement jointly signed by Fola Amure, Secretary of ADI, and Ibukun Rogbitan, Chairman of ACF, they stressed that the court had declared the creation by the late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu as unconstitutional, null, and void.

According to them, the court ruled that the process failed to comply with the mandatory provisions of sections seven and eight of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and subsequently ordered the dissolution of the councils, restraining the state government from further actions concerning them.

However, the Akoko leaders expressed concern over the state government’s “deliberate disobedience” to the court order, emphasising that despite the judgment, the Aiyedatiwa-led administration has continued to operate the dissolved LCDAs, appoint personnel, and expend public funds on them.

They further maintained that prominent Akoko leaders, including former Deputy Governor, Ali Olanusi, and elder statesman, Seinde Arogbofa, had previously visited the governor, who had assured them that the “imbalance” and “lopsidedness” identified in the court ruling would be addressed.