On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal in Ibadan approved Governor Seyi Makinde’s sack of elected Council chairpersons.
However, the ousted chairpersons have threatened to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In a statement on Wednesday the former council bosses announced the plan to appeal.
The former chairpersons, led by Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, had asked the court to vindicate them, saying they had been sacked unlawfully.
Mr Makinde had the officials sacked shortly after his inauguration as governor in 2019.
He directed the council leaders elected in 2018 to turn over their council properties to the senior staff of their respective local government areas.
The officials, drawn from the 33 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 35 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) and their councillors, were APC members who were elected during the tenure of the late Abiola Ajimobi, the immediate past governor.
The officials have approached an Oyo State High Court in Ibadan after their sack. We also claimed that Mr Makinde has illegally removed them.
The case later passed to the appeals court.
But, in its ruling on Wednesday, the appellate court ruled in favor of the governor, elected under the PDP.
Justice Haruna Tsamani read the decision in the presence of the other two judges, who were members of the court of appeal’s three-member panel.
Mr Abass-Aleshinloye, who is the group’s spokesperson, said that they would go to the Supreme Court to appeal their dismissal.
The former Oluyole Local Government Area chairman indicated that their lawyers were told of the decision to proceed to the Supreme Court.
“We humbly reject the judgement and we shall proceed to the Supreme Court for a review. Our lawyers have been informed to take the necessary action,” he said.
“As elected chairmen and councilors, we will continue to defend democracy and our freely given mandate legally and peacefully until justice is done and seen to be done. The struggle continues,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state chapter of the APC has said it will give the judgement of the appeal court to its legal team “for scrutiny”.
Its publicity secretary, AbdulAzeez Olatunde, in a statement, said the party would await the legal advice on its next step.
“The judgement of the court of appeal in the unconstitutional and illegal dissolution of the elected Local Government Administration in Oyo State of Wednesday 15th July 2020 would be given to Oyo State APC legal team for scrutiny when received. Thereafter, the Oyo State APC would await the legal advice on the next step and way forward.
“APC Oyo State has been known for peace and as such would counsel all APC members in Oyo State to go about their endeavours peacefully and await the next step to be taken in line with the advice of our team of legal experts,” the party said.