Cross section of the newly inaugurated chairmen of Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas of Oyo State, during the ceremony at the Governor’s Office, Ibadan

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has said that the overwhelming performance of his administration in the last six years has silenced the opposition political parties, declaring them as dead.

Ajimobi said this while inaugurating the chairmen of the 14 local government and Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, who could not be sworn in with their other colleagues on in April due to legal impediment. He explained that the inauguration of the 14 council bosses was the concluding part of an episode that started in April when 53 chairmen were inaugurated into the LGs and LCDAs.

The governor said he was confident that the expected landslide victory of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in a local government election, planned for the first quarter of next year, would finally bury the opposition.

Seven Baales in Oyo community had gone to an Abuja Federal High Court to challenge the boundary demarcation that gave rise to some of the new LCDAs created by the governor in August, last year.

A pronouncement by the court had temporarily scuttled the ambition of the 14 new chairmen, while it also caused a delay in the plan by the government to conduct LG election within the four-month tenure of the chairmen that came on board in April.

The court had recently vacated the order stopping the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from releasing the voters register to the State Independent Electoral Commission, thus clearing the hurdle before the election.

Ajimobi said the reprieve had given the state the needed impetus to commence activities towards the conduct of the LG poll into the 33 LGs and 35 LCDAs, which he said would be another milestone in the life of his administration.

The governor said, “It is in our interest to conduct elections. I have no doubt that we have performed very well as an administration. Our overwhelming performance has silenced the opposition in this state. Anytime we go into election we shall clear all by God’s grace.

“All other political parties have gone moribund. They are literally dead. Let us conduct the LG elections to bury them. Let me therefore tell you (chairmen) that your tenure will be for four months only.

“We will conduct election before the end of your tenure. You are also free to contest and this is an opportunity for you to perform very well and enhance your chances of being picked.”

Ajimobi urged the new chairmen to use the opportunity to bring development closer to the grassroots, while he admonished them to eschew the temptation of using the opportunity for self aggrandizement.