Kunle Adelabu
The Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Local Government & Community Affairs, leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Conference of 57 Council Chairmen on Monday intervened in the face-off between the Chairman of Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area, Hon. (Princess) Jumoke Ademehin, and the Council’s legislators.
The Council lawmakers had on Monday, January 20, 2020, sealed off the Chairman’s office and blocked the entrance into the council premises with their official vehicles to prevent movement in and out of the council.
It was, however, gathered that the warring factions were summoned to the Lagos State House of Assembly by the House Committee on Local Government & Community Affairs, led by Hon. Olawale O.A., after meeting with the APC leaders in Ikorodu West LCDA.
A reliable source at the Lagos Assembly informed THE IMPACT that the committee chairman, after listening to the parties, directed them to abide with the resolutions reached with the party leaders who had intervened in Ikorodu.
He also directed Hon. Ademehin to open a file on the resolutions which must be signed by her and all the Councilors and which implementation is going to be monitored by the Assembly.
“There was nothing much at the Assembly because leaders in Ikorodu had already intervened before they came to the Assembly. What the committee did was just to adopt the resolutions at the meeting with the party leaders”, the source informed THE IMPACT.
“In addition, Hon. Ademehin was directed to open a file listing all the resolutions and must be signed by her and all the Councilors. A copy is also expected to be submitted to the Committee and the implementation is going to be monitored for strict compliance”.
The warring parties we also gathered are to meet again with the Assembly committee on Friday to give update on the resolutions.
THE IMPACT also gathered that the party leaders called the aggrieved Councilors and the embattled Chairman to a peace meeting yesterday’s afternoon at Arch. Taiwo Kara’s house where other leaders like Alhaji Badmus, Captain Adewunmi Benson, Mr Agbi, former party chairman in Ikorodu West LGA, Alhaji Olakitan, APC Chairman in Ikorodu West LGA, Mr Olunloyo among others were in attendance.
It was gathered that the party leaders that were aware of the crisis before it degenerated yesterday, after listening to the embattled Chairman and the aggrieved Councilors, called the Chairman to order and enjoined her to work in harmony with the Councilors who are the representatives of the party and the people.
THE IMPACT also gathered from a reliable source at the meeting that Hon. Ademehin was asked to discharge her duty as promised in the party’s manifestoes which the Councilors are yearning for.
Another source informed THE IMPACT that the leaders, while also calling the Councilors to order, also appealed to them to bear with the Chairman.
The party leaders also assured them that the Chairman will turn a new leave after the Monday’s unfortunate experience.
After the meeting, our reporter also gathered that the council Chairman’s husband also called the Councilors aside to plead with them and told them that he was hearing about the allegations against his wife for the first time and assured them that she will, henceforth, change and do the needful.
Also intervening in the matter was the Conference 57, a body of the 57 Council Chairmen in Lagos State who sent the Chairman of the Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA and the Conference 57 Public Relations Officer, Builder (Comrade) Sesan Daini, to intervene in the matter on behalf of the body.
Daini, who arrived at the Ikorodu West LCDA’s premises when the Council gate was blocked with Councilor’s vehicles, met the Council Vice Chairman, Hon. Sesan Dada appealing to the legislators.
Hon. Daini later moved into the Councilors’ Chamber where he held a meeting with them in company of the Council’s Vice Chairman.
THE IMPACT gathered the aggrieved Councilors presented him copies of their petitions, showed him the condition of their offices and also explained to him that all their attempts to make Hon. Ademehin do the needful were rebuffed.
We gathered that while meeting with the Councilors, Hon. Daini called the Conference 57 Chairman who spoke with the Councilors on speaker phone as they restated their allegations against the Chairman which include her refusal to pay their entitlements, lack of projects in the Council, failure to seek their approval before embarking on certain actions and poor working conditions among others.
Also, it was gathered that the representative of Conference 57 pleaded with the Councilors and asked them to give the body two days to meet with their embattled colleague and get back to them.
Speaking with Hon. Adebowale Kalejaiye, the Majority Leader, Ikorodu West LCDA Legislative Arm, he confirmed the interventions by the Lagos Assembly, party leaders, Conference 57 and the Council’s Vice Chairman in the matter.
“Of course, they all intervened and played important roles in appealing to us to resolve the matter amicably. They also saw reasons with us and assured us that things will change for good. You know that I cannot give you details of our discussions with them”, he stated.
He added that all that the council legislators are demanding for is developments in the council and also making the embattled chairman deliver good governance to the people.
“All that we are after is development of the council. We want to ensure that we give good governance to the people that elected us”, the lawmaker stated.
“There is no project anywhere since we assumed office in 2018. These are what we have been saying in our petitions to the Assembly and party leaders. Thank God that they have intervened and hopefully there will be positive change in our council”.
“Our people are blaming us for lack of developments in the council. They think that we are conniving with her (the council Chairman) to siphon Council’s resources for our own benefits”, the Council Majority Leader stated.
Meanwhile, our reporter was able to reach the Council Chairman, Hon. Jumoke Ademehin, earlier today to get her own side of the story.
The embattled Chairman, who was furious and in a hurry to hang up on our reporter, expressed her displeasure over the failure of our reporter to get her own side of the story before publishing it.
Attempts by our reporter to explain to her that concerted efforts were made to reach her and that her family members were even called to assist in contacting her for her reaction failed to convince her.
However, while she didn’t deny the allegations levelled against her by the Councillors, she said that,her administration was affected by inadequate funding.
“You should have tried to reach me before publishing that we did not do any project since inception of our administration. All those interested in the matter called me and I spoke with them yesterday”, she protested.
“Concerning the matter, our Apex leaders have intervened to resolve the matter.
“Even though you are unable to reach me, you should have contacted my Vice Chairman or any of my cabinet member to know the projects that we have been able to do”, she stated.
Hon. Ademehin also told our reporter that her administration had embarked on many projects.
When asked to state at least three projects that her administration has been able to do since inception two years ago, Hon. Ademehin directed our reporter to the council’s information unit.
“You will need to cross check our projects with the Council’s Information Unit. Bye bye”, she stated.
Meanwhile, when our reporter visited the council on Tuesday (today), normalcy had been restored as workers were seen going about their duties as usual.
