Alimosho Crisis: Lagos Assembly To Resend Resolutions To Council Chairman, Others

The Lagos State House of Assembly during plenary resolved to resend the resolution of the House to Alimosho Council Chairman, Jelili Suleimon, on revenue collection in Iyana-Ipaja.

This followed allegations from members of the House who accused the Alimosho Council Chairman of disobeying an earlier resolution of the House on the issue.

One person had been killed on April 16, in a fracas in Iyana-Ipaja over allegations that the Suleimon forcefully withdrew the collection of revenues from Abiodun Ejigbadero and handed to a man allegedly loyal to him.

The House received a letter from the secretary to the Alimosho Local Government Council, Dare Ogunkoya, stating that the chairman cannot obey the resolutions of the House concerning the matter.

The Clerk, Olalekan Onafeko, who read the letter to the House, said any action by the council chairman on the resolutions of the House would be contentious.

Reacting to the letter, Sanni Okanlawon, who chaired the committee that investigated the crisis, described Jelili as a “stubborn chairman who would go any length to debase the House“.

He recalled that in resolving the matter, the committee invited all the stakeholders including Jelili, who the committee discovered to be the cause of the mayhem.

Okanlawon alleged that while Jelili could not provide any documents, Ejigbadero produced all documents to prove his position as the toll collector in the place.

According to Okanlawon, Jelili had remained “defiant and, to say the least, this is an affront against the House that had resolved the issue.”

He urged the House to invoke the right section of the law against the council chairman as a deterrent.

On his part, the Majority Leader, Noheem Adams, stated that the letter by Ogunkoya undermined the authority of the House which sought peace in the affected area.

The House’s Deputy Majority Leader Adedamola Kasunmu told his colleagues, “I can attest to his (Jelili’s) stubbornness. He has shown incompetence and irresponsibility. For us to avert further loss of lives, it is good that he is either immediately removed or suspended.”

In their individual contributions, the two lawmakers from Alimosho, Hon. Kehinde Joseph and Luqman Orelope, pleaded with the House for leniency on the council chairman.

The duo expressed surprise that the council could disobey the House in such a manner, while Joseph urged that the chairman could be suspended instead of removal.

Speaking, the House’s Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa regretted that Alimosho is always enmeshed in crises adding that the resolution by the House was to ensure peace in the community.

He pleaded that the chairman should be given the benefit of doubt since the letter was not directly written by him and, as such, he could claim ignorance.

The House, therefore, directed the Clerk to resend the resolutions of the House to the council chairman, the Local Government Service Commission and other top officials of the Alimosho Local Government Council.