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Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday explained why he stopped the meeting of the state's Council of Obas and Chiefs.
Ajimobi said it was illegal to allow the meetings continue, when a court case instituted against the Council by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, had not been determined.
The governor, who spoke through his media aide, Dr. Festus Adedayo, said his administration would always uphold the rule of law.
A member of the Olubadan-in-Council, Chief Lekan Balogun, at the 10th anniversary of Premier FM in Ibadan, the state capital, yesterday faulted the government's decision.
Though he said the decision would not stop the Olubadan-in-Council from supporting the Ajimobi administration, Balogun said stopping the Council's meeting, which is currently chaired by the Olubadan was not good.
But Ajimobi said his administration has great regard for the Olubadan and all traditional institutions.
He said: "However, the case under consideration is in court. The Alaafin of Oyo went to court before the Council of Oba's meeting was convened. It would thus be an affront on the authority of the court to allow the meeting to hold while the government is aware of the court process.
"It is common jurisprudential knowledge that no party to a case shall take any action during the pendency of a case as this may prejudice judgment. "As a government that swore to uphold the integrity of the judiciary, we had no option than to abide by the law. We are not a lawless government."
Also, the state government has approved a probe of the procurement of N1.5 billion transformers for the 33 local governments by the out gone administration of Adebayo Alao-Akala.
Chief of Staff Dr. Adeolu Akande spoke yesterday after the weekly meeting of the State Executive Council.
Akande said the audit was necessitated by complaints by residents on irregular power supply and lack of transformers in some places.
He said: "There are lots of complaints about these transformers. Some people are saying they were not supplied, while others are saying they were not up to specification.
"So council decided that there should be an auditing of the quantity and quality of transformers supplied by the immediate past administration."
Akande said the government also plans to rehabilitate some state-owned hospitals and look into the procurement of equipment in those hospitals as claimed by the past administration.
Commissioner for Health Lateef Olopoenia said the second phase of the government's Health Mission would begin on November 14.
The first phase covered 11 local governments and attendant to about 70,000 patients.
The government has also ordered the relocation of motor parks at Iwo Road and Challenge roundabout to ease traffic.
It awarded a N250 million contract for new inter-city motor parks at different locations in Ibadan.
Commissioner for Works and Transport Alhaji Yunus Akintunde said the projects would be completed within 30 days.
The first phase of the project will involve resurfacing and drainage, while the second phase will include structural and civil works, and the provision of infrastructure, such as police post, kiosks, toilets and boreholes.
Akintunde said motor parks on Iwo Road would be relocated to Temidire Park on New Ife Road, while motor parks on Beere-Molete-Challenge would be relocated to Podo Park on the Old Lagos Road.
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