THERE was tension at the Alimosho Local Government Area secretariat as the council’s suspended Chairman and his Vice Chairman, Messrs Jelili Sulaimon and Akinpelu Johnson, yesterday, clashed over the control of the office.
The Lagos State House of Assembly, on Monday, suspended Sulaimon from office following alleged misconduct.
The lawmakers further instructed the Manager and Treasurer of the council to recognise the Vice Chairman and accord him all the support to make him work effectively.
But the embattled LG chairman, yesterday, defied the suspension order by the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The Vice Chairman had received an appointment letter to take over from the embattled council boss.
The council boss in a video was seen resuming at the council secretariat in Alimosho and being welcomed by a crowd in a show of solidarity.
According to a source, Suleiman and Johnson could not have access to the office of the chairman as it was locked.
It was gathered that a few minutes later the two left the premises to an undisclosed destination.
4 out of 7 councillors deny VC’s suspension
Meanwhile, four out of the seven councillors in the council have denounced the purported suspension of Johnson by their three colleagues.
The councillors, in a statement by the Deputy Leader, Mojisola Ayeni (Ward D), Saheed Adejoke (Ward C), Rasheed Semiu (Ward E) and Elizabeth Fashina (Ward F), commended the House of Assembly for intervening, while urging stakeholders in the council to go about their activities.
The statement, titled ‘Illegal Suspension of Akinpelu Ibrahim Johnson, Vice Chairman Alimosho Local Government,’ reads in part: “We, the undersigned legislators from Alimosho Local Government, officially dissociate ourselves from the staged managed and illegal suspension of Mr Akinpelu Johnson, the Vice Chairman of Alimosho Local Government.
“We condemn the purported suspension of the Vice Chairman by minority legislators, who acted on instructions of the validly suspended Chairman.
“We would like to emphasize that at no time was the Vice Chairman suspended hence our readiness to support him going forward with the administration of the Local Government.”
(Vanguard)