Recall an Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, the state capital, last Thursday nullified the newly created 33 Local Government Development Areas in the state.
In the judgment delivered by Justice A.O Adebusoye, the court described the LCDAs, which were created by the immediate former governor of the state, the late Mr Rotimi Akeredolu , as illegal and unlawful.
However, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party Mr Agboola Ajayi, in a statement condemned the court judgment, describing it as anti-people which would hinder development of Ondo communities.
He said, “The judgment is anti-people. It will be promoting an agenda that will hinder rapid development of the communities. The Ondo State government is behing the suit. They must appeal the judgment. The suit filed by the PDP was not to totalling abrogate the LCDAs but illegal inauguration of Caretake Chairman.”
Reacting to Ajayi’s statement, the LACO-FSIC spokesman, in a statement on Monday, said the government was not behind the judgment, saying Ajayi’s statement was reckless, defamatory, and an attempt to bring the Nigerian judiciary to ridicule.
The statement read, “While Agboola Ajayi has every right to express his opinion on a court verdict, he is not licensed to impugn on the integrity of the sitting judge and the judicial institution by claiming Governor Aiyedatiwa had influenced the judge to pass his judgment.
“We had waited for three days in the hope that Ajayi would deny the story or claim that he was quoted out of context, but alas, he regaled in silence, thus affirming that he said that the governor influenced the judge to pass a wrong judgment, which he considered the dissolution of the 133 LCDAs.
“Therefore, we are calling on the judiciary to take up Agboola Ajayi and put him on trial, to produce evidence of how Aiyedatiwa influenced the judge; otherwise, he should be sentenced accordingly,” the LACO-FSIC urged.
