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Lagos Assembly suspends three council chairmen

By Seye Olumide
05 May 2021   |   4:18 am
The Lagos State House of Assembly, yesterday, suspended three local council chairmen over alleged disregard for the guidelines governing their activities.

The Lagos State House of Assembly, yesterday, suspended three local council chairmen over alleged disregard for the guidelines governing their activities.

The affected chairmen are Mr. Ogidan Mukandasi Olaitan of Lekki Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Suleiman Jelili of Alimosho Local Council and Tajudeen Ajide of Surulere Local Council.

The House said it could no longer continue to watch while the council chairmen flout the state’s council guidelines. Their suspension was unanimously approved by members of the House in a voice-vote with no opposition shortly after Bisi Yusuff, representing Alimosho Consituency I, raised a complaint against Olaitan.

Yusuff, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Commerce and Industry, told the Assembly that the suspended Lekki LCDA chairman arrogantly told some lawmakers that they were ignorant of their jobs while they (the lawmakers) were carrying out an oversight function on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in relation to the issue that arose from a resettlement programme in Lekki.

He added that Olaitan had total disregard for those in his domain, saying: “His action, even as a lawyer, was an insult to true governance and respect for the authority.”

Corroborating Yusuff, another lawmaker representing Ibeju Lekki Constituency I, Fatai Mojeed, said Jelili and Ajide were allegedly under investigation over some issues.

He urged his colleagues to suspend the chairmen pending the outcome of the investigations and to serve as deterrent to others.

Meanwhile, the Speaker, Mr. Mudashiru Obasa, said the Assembly had received several petitions from many councillors against incumbent chairmen.
According to him, “the Assembly cannot continue to watch while council chairmen flout the laws they were supposed to uphold. Total disregard for the local council guidelines is something that should not be tolerated. We cannot continue like this. We can’t be breeding monsters in our local councils.”

The Speaker added that it would not be ideal to gloss over the issues, as it would be creating a precedent of disobedience to the law by council chairmen, especially at a time the state is planning elections for new council chairmen. He said the Assembly’s decision would serve as a deterrent.

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