Former Oyo state council and local government chairmen have accused the state government of refusing to pay their outstanding salaries and other entitlements.
Representatives of the council’s roughly 800 former officials said in a statement Sunday that 26 of its members died due to an inability to pay for medical care.
In May 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the Oyo State that the government pay the former council officials their outstanding emoluments.
The court said the former heads of the council were illegally fired by Governor Seyi Makinde in May 2019, ordering payment of their salaries and benefits for the three years they should have served.
In partial compliance with the court order, the Oyo State Government calculated Naira 4,874,889,425.60, of which it paid Naira 1.5 billion, leaving a balance of Naira 3,374,889,425.60.
Similarly, the Court of Appeal confirmed the outstanding debt in an appeal filed by Mr. Makinde in which he requested the payment of debts to former officials in installments.
They accuse Makinde and the State Assembly of witch hunts
In their statement, representatives of the former council officials said Makinde and the State House of Assembly concocted fraud charges against them as a ploy to evade paying debts.
But Makinde’s spokesman, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said on Sunday that the governor had nothing to do with the parliamentary impeachment of former local government heads.
“It was the State House of Assembly that investigated the alleged fraud against the former council officials,” Olanrewaju told Newslodge in a telephone interview.
But he declined to comment further on whether Mr. Makinde was aware of the plight of judgment creditors whose members were allegedly dying because the government failed to pay their outstanding payments.
The statement issued by three of the affected former council heads, Ayodeji Aleshinloye, Bosun Ajuwon and Oluyinka Jesutoye, said they obtained an order to seize state government bank accounts in a bid to recover outstanding court debts.
But to truncate the collection of the debt, the judgment creditors said: “Our attention has been drawn to an alleged resolution of the Oyo State House of Assembly, in which some of our members were allegedly accused of fraud. “.
They explained that the House of Assembly did not invite anyone in connection with the alleged investigation.
“However, for the benefit of the great citizens of Oyo State, we hereby present our version of events.
“In March 2023, we had our lawyer seize the state government account in the amount of 3,374,889,425.60 naira, being the state government’s outstanding debt to us, calculated voluntarily and exclusively by them without any input from us.” .
They said, “The fraud allegation arose from the House of Assembly because we had state government accounts forged (restricted), including the House of Assembly Account, which is part of the lawsuit. .
“None of us committed any fraud and if invited, we have what it takes to defend ourselves.
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“This is just a case of a witch hunt against the leadership of the then ALGON. Of the five local governments mentioned, three are the local governments of former ALGON executive members, and they made sure to involve the then president and secretary.”
Denouncing the plight of the former council officials, the representatives said: “To date, we have lost 26 of our members (which includes one of the people who is now allegedly being charged with fraud by the House of Assembly). whose children are crying to conscience. of the Excellency of her for justice ”.
They pointed out that if Mr. Makinde had paid his benefits after being illegally dismissed, his deceased colleagues would have been able to take care of their health needs.
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