Court declares newly created LCDAs in Ondo State illegal

An Ondo State High Court on Thursday declared the creation of the 33 Local Government Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state as unconstitutional and illegal.

The Presiding Judge, Justice A.O Adebusuoye, said the LCDAs were not lawfully created and described the LCDAs created by the former later governor Rotimi Akeredolu, as inchoate and not lawfully created.

It will be recalled that leaders of the four local governments in Akokoland, had approached the court to challenge the creation of the LCDAs in the area, alleging marginalisation of the area.

The leaders of the Akokoland which include, Akoko Southeast, Akoko Southwest, Akoko Northwest, and Akoko Northeast, through their lawyers, Mr Tolu Babaleye, dragged the state government to court challenging the marginalisation in the creation of the LCDAs.

However, Justice Adebusoye in his judgment held that the creation of the LCDAS did not comply with sections 7 and 8 of the 1999 constitution

He also agreed with the leaders of the four local government areas that there was no equitable distribution of the council areas among the existing local governments in the state.