Approval of another Babalola-General is contempt of court, unconstitutional – Jimoh tells Makinde

The Babaloja-General of Oyo State, Alhaji Sunmaila Aderemi Jimoh, has described the appointment of another Babaloja-General of the state as contempt of court and unconstitutional.

Jimoh made this disclosure on Saturday.

It was gathered that Governor Seyi Makinde of the state recently approved the appointment of Alhaji Yekini Abass as Babaloja-General of the state.

Jimoh has, however, described the appointment as illegal.

In a statement made available to newsmen on Saturday, Jimoh insisted that such appointment is against an existing judgement of a competent court of jurisdiction.

He appealed to traders in the state to remain calm.

He also urged them to abstain from whatever can lead to breakdown of laws and orders in the state.

Jimoh, while speaking further, insisted that no appointee of the government has the legal right to determine who should be installed as Babaloja-General in the state.

He explained that an Oyo State High Court has stopped and banned Abass from parading himself as Babaloja-General of the state.

He said, “Judgement issued by the Oyo State High Court against Alhaji Yekini Abass where the court stopped and banned him from parading himself and also not to be addressed as Babaloja-General of Oyo State is still binding on him and constitutionally valid because it hasn’t been vacated by any competent court in Nigeria.

“This issue will be wisely and constitutionally handled and the truth will be exposed to the governor. Their efforts to pull down the good structure enjoy by the traders in Oyo State will die a natural death and all manipulations and injustices will end in futility.

“We are traders, our associations are registered with the corporate affairs commission under the law of the land, we are not government agencies and no appointee of the government has legal right to determine who should be installed as Babaloja-General.

“Should there be any ambiguity in the judgement of the court, the parties should be advised to return to court for better interpretation. Advisory Council is a government agency and cannot speak for over 2 million traders. Besides, traders have demanded for the dissolution of advisory council in more than 2 occasions for lack of integrity and moral justification to decide their faith.

“I want every one to know that this display of executive rascality and lawlessness was initiated and launched by Bayo Lawal, the Commissioner for Trade and Industry in Oyo State, who has arrogated unconstitutional and unjust powers to himself in the administration of Engr Seyi Makinde. He arrogantly boasted recently that nothing would stop installation of Y. K. Abass as Babaloja-General of Oyo State, but he has forgotten that power is transient.”