The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Agboola Ajayi, has insisted that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa should be blamed for the scrapping of 33 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) by the court.
The late former Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu signed the bill creating the 33 LCDAs into law last September after he returned from medical vacation, but Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye, in a judgment, said the creation of the LCDAs were inchoate, null and void, unconstitutional and illegal.
Justice Adebusoye ruled that the late Akeredolu did not comply with sections seven and eight of the 1999 Constitution, saying it was illegal for the late former governor to sign a law outside the state.
Ajayi said Aiyedatiwa was in charge during the creation of the LCDAs, noting that the late former governor was on medical vacation.
Ajayi, who addressed reporters in Akure, said Governor Aiyedatiwa should have intervened, reconciled and addressed the injustice the people must have raised as regards the creation of the LCDAs.
He said: “I still maintain what I said by blaming Governor Aiyedatiwa for the judgment and the aftermath of that creation.
“I’m blaming Aiyedatiwa because before they went to court, they must have written several letters to him. Even when they were in court, what stopped him from calling to settle out of court? There is nothing bad in that, and that is leadership. Do you know how much money has gone into that? The hope of the people has been dashed.
“Government is a serious business. Once you inherit an asset from the government, you must also inherit the liability of whatever it is from that government.
“The blame Aiyedatiwa has as a leader was not setting up alternative dispute resolution on the matter.”
Speaking through the Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers Independent Council (LACO-FSIC), Governor Aiyedatiwa called on the judiciary to put Ajayi on trial to produce evidence of how he (Aiyedatiwa) influenced the judge.
He said the PDP governorship candidate lowered the bar for himself and his party, in the quest to become the next governor of Ondo State.
“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.”