The Ekiti state government has announced the relocation of Ilejemeje Local Government council headquarters from Iye-Ekiti to Eda-Oniyo.
The state Deputy Governor, Bisi Egbeyemi, announced the relocation at a press conference on Monday in Ado-Ekiti.
He said that the relocation was in obedience to the Supreme Court judgment nullifying the gazetting of Iye-Ekiti as the council headquarters.
Egbeyemi directed the council Chairman, Mr. Sunday Awolola, and the Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Prof. Adio Folayan, to prepare a schedule for the council’s relocation to the new headquarters.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the Supreme Court had, in Dec. 2018, delivered a judgment declaring Eda-Oniyo as the authentic headquarters of the council.
The Eda-Oniyo community had, in 1996, approached the court to challenge the location of the council headquarters in Iye-Ekiti.
The community had insisted that the recognition of Iye-Ekiti as the headquarters of the council by the then military government was politically-motivated.
The deputy governor said the state government would ensure full implementation of the Supreme Court judgment, adding that it would be tantamount to illegality to still continue to recognise Iye-Ekiti as the council headquarters after the judgment.
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“By virtue of the judgment, Eda-Oniyo is the only legally-recognised headquarters of Ilejemeje local government.
“The headquarters of Ilejemeje local government and its machinery are hereby relocated from Iye-Ekiti to Eda-Oniyo Ekiti,” he said.
He urged all government departments, institutions and agencies to respect the new order and cautioned against any act capable of truncating the relocation process.
Reacting to the development, Oba Julius Awolola, the Eleda of Eda-Oniyo, commended the state government for obeying the Supreme Court judgment.
“I urge my people not to be over-joyous but to maintain peace in the face of the current development,” he said.
Also speaking, the council chairman urged the people of the two communities to be peaceful and law-abiding.
“We will need the cooperation of the two communities as we implement the relocation process,” he said.
NAN
