Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on people of the state to demand accountability from Governor Seyi Makinde, over the management of funds allocated to the 33 local councils since 2019.

The party claimed that the “preponderance of pressure being mounted on our elected officials, federal appointees, and privileged members by the masses as a result of the strangulation of the 33 local government councils by Governor Seyi Makinde has warranted such demand” in a statement released yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare.

Since council officials lack the authority to manage funds allotted to them from the federation account on a monthly basis, the state’s main opposition party also claimed that there were signs that the joint account arrangement between the state government and the 33 councils had impeded the third tier of government’s ability to function effectively.

For its “inability to persuade Governor Makinde to make available monies to its members for the purpose of empowering their constituents, as it was the practice before 2019 and as is the situation in most states throughout the country,” the APC further criticized the State House of Assembly’s leadership.

The party said: “We have observed the current situation across the state, and we have come to realise the amount of pressure being mounted on all the elected officials, particularly the serving members of the National Assembly. Our federal lawmakers are now the ones feeling the heat as residents of the state demand more dividends of democracy, especially at the grassroots.

“Ideally, the third tier of government should be the closest to the people, but handlers of the existing 33 local government councils are not visible or accessible, and the reason for this is largely due to the fact that Governor Makinde has been in total control of the funds, which should have been used to take care of citizens at the grassroots. In the last 68 months, no single local government in the state has been able to deliver essential services to the residents.”

And to make the matter worse, the opposition party said that most people do not care to distinguish among the three tiers of government as they keep blaming the government at the centre, “whereas it is the governor who deprives them by rendering the councils ineffective deliberately.”

They said that the scenario explains why residents approach senators and members of the House of Representatives to provide electricity transformers, street lights and boreholes. They also ask them to fix deplorable community roads, build health care facilities, police posts, culverts among other things even as they (constituents) feign ignorance of the primary responsibility of the lawmakers in Abuja.

However, the party salutes the courage of all APC federal lawmakers for rescuing the situation in the state. “Our senators and Representatives in the Green Chamber have always been the ones that make themselves available to the residents as each of them can be reached by the weakest in the society. They have never been tired of donating power transformers, street lights and boreholes to communities while they strive to secure employment for the youth population in addition to sponsorship of overseas education and training.”