The Honourable Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice of Ondo State,
Ministry of Justice,
Akure,

Attention: Sir Titiloye Charles KSM, FCArb

Dear Hon AG Sir,

OPEN LETTER

APPOINTMENT OF CARETAKER CHAIRMEN/VICE CHAIRMEN FOR THE EIGHTEEN (18) LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS AND THE FIFTEEN (15) 'LOCAL COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT AREAS' IN ONDO STATE BY THE ONDO STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY: AN ACT OF UNBRIDLED LEGISLATIVE ILLEGALITY AND AFFRONT TO THE CONSTITUTION AND JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA AND THE HIGH COURT OF ONDO STATE; A CALL ON YOUR GOOD OFFICE TO RESTORE AND ENFORCE THE RULE OF LAW.

Prefatory

I present warm compliments to you sir and I hope this meets you well.

I write as a citizen of Nigeria of Ondo State origin and a Legal Practitioner and a Notary Public who has sworn to defend, promote and uphold the rule of law.

Kindly permit me to write you in your position as the Chief Law officer of Ondo State using this platform which has become and has been recognised as an indispensable and effective medium of communication on diverse issues including but not limited to legality of governmental actions.

Background facts

1. Illegality of appointment of caretakers:

After the political intervention of Mr. President, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR in the leadership and governance impasse which had gripped Ondo State by the jugular since the absence of the Governor, His Excellency, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON, from office due to ill health, the people of Ondo State had the right to and indeed looked forward to the resumption of governance properly so called at all levels of governance in the State including the Local Government Area Councils which is the third tier of government and the closest to the grassroots.

Perhaps, one of the greatest set backs that the absence of Mr. Governor has foisted on our dear State is the absence of leadership at the third tier of government, i.e. the eighteen local government council areas. This is given the fact that no local government election has been conducted by the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) to fill in the vacancies created in the local government councils as a result of the expiration in August 2023 of the tenure of the immediate past Chairmen of the Eighteen (18) Local Government Areas in the State.

Governance having been said to resume in the State following the intervention of Mr. President, which intervention as you are very much aware has effectively circumvented the provisions of Sections 189 and 190 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), residents of the State legitimately expected the State Government to immediately sent in motion the processes for the conduct of local government elections to fill the vacancies created by the expiration of the tenure of the immediate past local government Chairmen in the State. However, in defiance of/disregard to the Constitution and litany of judgments of superior courts on this issue including the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Ondo State House of Assembly emerged from it's Tuesday, 28th November 2023 plenary with a strange list of what it termed Caretaker Chairmen/Vice Chairmen for the 33 Local Coincil Development Areas for the period of 2023-2024.

Kindly recall that Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees an independent and separate local government system as a tier of Government in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Sir, as you are aware, the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a welter of decisions have pronounced with unequivocality that the appointments of caretaker chairmen or officers to superintend the affairs of local government area councils in Nigeria is a violation of the extant, mandatory and subsisting provisions of Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and consequently unconstitutional and illegal. The Supreme Court and Court of Appeal clearly reiterated this position of the law in several decisions including: Akpan v. Umah (2002) LPELR-7099 where the Court of Appeal declared:

"..any law made by the House of Assembly which provides for the nomination of membership of a council or appointment of an administrator or caretaker committee to replace a democratically elected council is inconsistent with the clear and unambiguous provisions of Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution which guarantees democratically elected local government councils and is therefore unconstitutional to the extend of its inconsistency."

I therefore beseech you sir, as the Chief Law Officer of Ondo State to exercise restraint in taking further steps to legalise the illegality which the Ondo State House of Assembly now seek to perpetrate and legalise through its legislative seal. It must be reiterated that those interested in holding elective offices at the level of local Governments should participate in the process for the election of democratically elected local government chairmen and councillors and win the confidence and trust of the people.

The situation at hand is unacceptable and an afrront on the laws of the land by which a few persons, based on political and other parochial interests, pick and choose individuals to preside over the affairs of this important tier of government. This is putting it in stronger terms, anti-people and inimical to the development of the local councils who are the closest to the people. It is indubitable that these persons are bound to do the biding of their 'benefactors' and pay masters and relegate the interest of the people they were foisted upon to the rear.

Assuming without conceding, as some persons who are wont to justify the illegal appointments by all means may argue, that the Ondo State House of Assembly may have recourse to the Ondo State Local Government (Amendment) Law 2007 to constitute interim committees to administer the existing local government areas and the purported LCDAs, your good office is very well aware that such a statutory provision is inconsistent with the mandatory and superior provisions of Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution and consequently null and void, see *Gov. Of Ekiti State v. Olubunmo (2017) 3 NWLR (pt. 1551) 1* where the Supreme Court held that constitution of caretaker committees is permissible only in a state of emergency and since Ondo State is not, the proper thing is to administer the Local councils through democratically elected officials.

2. Appointment of caretakers to 15 LCDAs, an affront to the judicial powers of the High Court of Ondo State.

As you are eminently aware sir, the validity and constitutionality of the Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) recently created vide a bill signed into law by His Excellency, Mr. Governor at Ibadan in Oyo State is currently being tested under the fire of judicial scrutiny before the High Court of Ondo State sitting in Akure in _Suit No: AK/395/2023 Pa Lawal Ibukun Rogbitan & 22 Ors v. Governor of Ondo State & Ors_. It is however baffling for the rule of law and the integrity and magisterial authority of our courts that these LCDAs whose legality and _a fortiori_ their validity is under serious contestant before a competent court of law were also made subject of these illegal appointments despite the fact that the Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly is a party to the pending litigation.

As you are aware sir, the Plaintiffs comprising well meaning indigenes of Akokoland commenced the action by way of Originating Summons in November 2023 and also accompanied the Originating Summons with a Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction seeking among others, an order restraing the defendants from giving effect to the Ondo State Creation of Local Government Areas law 2023 until the determination of the Originating Summons.

The Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly is the 3rd Defendant in the suit and the Application for Interlocutory Injunction. Respect and deference to the judicial powers and authority of the courts places a mandatory duty on the Speaker as the head of the legislative arm of Government to ensure that the _status quo_ is maintained and nothing is done to jeopardise or render nugatory the decision that the High Court of Ondo State may arrive at on this matter. This is more so because the powers of the State House of Assembly to make laws or perform legislative functions is subject to the jurisdiction of the courts by virtue of section 4( of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Prayers

1. In the circumstances therefore, this is a humble call to your good self and the esteemed office you hold by virtue of section 211 of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) to respect the rule of law which is the fulcrum of our constitutional democracy by dint of section 14 of the said 1999 Constitution and prevent further acts of flagrant disobedience to the Constitution and established and ubiquitous judicial decisions of the Supreme Court which have magisterially outlawed the appointments of caretaker officers in a local government system as being unconstitutional and illegal._

2. That your good an esteemed office should immediately in conjunction with the Deputy Governor and other members of State Executive Council set in Motion the election of democratically elected officials to administer the eighteen local councils._

3. Furthermore, that your esteemed office ensures that no further action is taken by any of the parties to Suit No: AK/395/2023 Pa Lawal Ibukun Rogbitan & 22 Ors v. Governor of Ondo State & 2 Ors or their agents and privies in which your esteemed office is a party (2nd Defendant) and the Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly (3rd Defendant) which may render the judgment/decision of the High Court of Ondo State nugatory or foist a state of helplessness on the court.

Thank you your positive and prompt action on this issue of grave constitutional and public interest implications would restore our dear State on the path of the rule of law which you have always championed and advocated for.

Thank you for your patience.

Yours faithfully,

E- signed
Vincent Adodo, Esq., LL.M