7th July, 2010
Councillors in Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, South West Nigeria, on Monday chased the suspended vice chairman, Kehinde Togbeola, out of the council secretariat.
LG Circuit reliably gathered that the councillors marched to Ms. Togbeola’s office with the mace when they got wind of her presence.
The embattled vice chairman, who was suspended by the council’s lawmakersw last week for anti-party activities, was said to have driven to the secretariat in her private car.
Prior to her suspension, Togbeola was summoned on two occasions last week to appear before the council’s legislators to shed light on some issues, but failed to turn up on the grounds that she had prior outside engagements.
After ejecting her, the councillors, led by the Sergeant-at-Arms, Ebenezer Whede, locked the secretariat’s gate, an action, which attracted a crowd of onlookers.
One of the councillors, told LG Circuit that it was wrong for the vice chairman to be in the office while the suspension order slammed on her was still on.
He stated that by the suspension, the vice chairman had been stripped of all entitlements.
According to him, Ms. Togbeola had avoided all correspondences with the council’s legislative arm.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State House of Assembly has directed the legislative arm of the council to reverse its decision suspending the vice chairman.
In their comments on the issue, the lawmakers stressed the need to train the state’s councillors on legislative procedures.
They condemned the action of the councillors, saying the House must fashion out rules and procedures upon which the councillors should be trained.