On Thursday, an Ondo State High Court in Akure ruled that the creation of 33 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) by the administration of the late former Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu was unconstitutional and illegal.
Presiding Judge, Justice A.O. Adebusoye, declared that the LCDAs were not established in accordance with the law. This ruling follows the approval by the Ondo State Assembly of a bill in August 2023, which had been submitted by Akeredolu to create the additional LCDAs.
This decision comes several months after the same court restrained Governor Rotimi Akeredolu from inaugurating newly appointed caretaker committees for the state’s 51 local government areas and LCDAs. Justice Yemi Fasanmi had issued an interlocutory injunction to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, preventing the inauguration until the suit was resolved.
The court’s injunction also applied to the Ondo State House of Assembly, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Attorney General of Ondo State, who were named as joint defendants in the case. The PDP had filed the suit marked AK/390/2023, seeking to stop the inauguration of the Interim Management Committees for the LGAs and LCDAs.
