Council Boss Arrests, Detains Councillors, Editors

Feb 10th, 2010 | By admin | Category: Tits Bits

The Chairman of Ife-East Local Government Council Area of Osun State, Mr. Gbenga Owolabi had effected the arrest and detention of six of his councillors together with editors of two community tabloids in Ile-Ife, Bojuri and News Focus” for allegedly reporting the financial recklessness and misappropriation of the council funds by his administration.

According to OSUN DEFENDER investigation, the six councillors and the two editors were earlier invited to the Osun State Police Command for allegedly inciting the public against the council boss through their utterances and writings as being reported by the council boss.

It was further revealed that the councilors with the journalists honoured the police invitation only to be remanded and subsequently refused bail on the order of the council boss, as the detained journalists and legislators were said to have been regarded as security threats to Owolabi.

It was also gathered that immediately the council boss learnt that the journalists with his legislators had been detained, he immediately travelled to the United Kingdom , leaving an order to the police command not to grant bail to the accused persons.

The plight of the victims of the council chairman’s high-handedness was later reported to Ooni’s palace on Tuesday by members of their immediate families, who were assured that their bails would be effected soonest

On Wednesday, mother luck smiled on the detainees when the new police commissioner in Osun State , Mr Olusegun Solomon paid a courtesy visit to Oba Okunade Sijuwade in his palace during which the Ife monarch explained the plight of the council legislators and the two journalists to his visitor, who later ordered their release from police detention.

OSUN DEFENDER contact with the freed legislators and journalists confirmed the report, but they maintained sealed lips on the development, claiming that the matter was beyond them, as the Ooni had waded into it.

It was also gathered by the medium that the council boss had been intimated with the report of the release of the detained legislators and the journalists in the United Kingdom , which however did not go down well with him.

It would be recalled that the rift between the council boss and his councillors started just immediately he was accused of running the council affairs as his private entreprise.

The matter was alleged to have been tabled before Oba Okunade Sijuwade, whose mediation was to no avail.

The issue of running the council as a private venture was also tabled before Osun State House of Assembly, where the council chairman was invited to give his stewardship before the House committee and was advised to close rank with his legislators and other political appointees in the council for the smooth running of his administration.

The last straw that eventually broke the camel’s back in the council, the medium gathered, was the report of the Auditor-General of the state which indicted the council boss of financial recklessness to the tune of N5 million, which he alleged the councillors of publicizing through the community tabloids in Ile-Ife, and consequently ordered the arrest together with the journalists.

It was also gathered that the council boss also accused the detained journalists of making public the monthly allocation of the council.

In the reaction to the development, some residents of the council area regarded the council boss’ action as being power-drunk as all the detained councillors were from the same political party with him, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

By sola jacobs

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2 comments
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  1. omolebi February 11th, 2010 8:16 pm :

    I think those journalists should what best to do in this kind of situation if they really know their onion!As for the Councillors ,I think they are birds of a feather!

  2. Babamatto February 12th, 2010 5:41 pm :

    The end will justify the means

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