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Aggrieved members of the Ogun State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) are protesting the decision by a section of the members not to accept the zoning agreement earlier agreed on by the union over rotation of executive offices.
Aggrieved members of the Ogun State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) are protesting the decision by a section of the members not to accept the zoning agreement earlier agreed on by the union over rotation of executive offices.
Alhaji Aderibigbe, leader of the Integrity Group, in a statement said the zoning agreement is between the three zones in the state, namely Remo,Yewa, Egba and Ijebu zones.
He pointed out that while the Remo, Egba and Ijebu zones have been privileged to produce the union's president for eight years each, the Yewa zone has been left out of the arrangement.
He said further that the only time Yewa zone had the privilege was in 2004, when the incumbent, Comrade Abiodun Elegbede from the zone was elected.
'However, unlike other zones, which have spent two terms of four years each, Yewa is been denied the right to enjoy same privileged. Yewa zone is made up of the Awori and Yewa. The incumbent is from Yewa and ordinarily, the Awori people should be given the privilege to produce the next president to complete the remaining four years," he said.
Continuing, he said, rather than allow the zoning agreement to continue, and to the amazement of stakeholders, the incumbent vice-president from Ijebu, who claimed that zoning arrangement is dead, has been exploring grounds to thwart the coming election.
'We said it many times that every union election that is well planned and organized should evolve zoning method and other parameters to ensure a hitch free election and progress of the union," he informed.
He said further that the national body of the union also embraces the zoning method, saying the union, in every four years rotates the twelve executive positions among the three geographical zones of North, West and the East, pointing out that no zone has spent more than four years on any of the positions.
'It is against this backdrop that the union founding fathers started the zoning method. The arrangement started with the election of Comrade Anofi Akinyemi (Remo), Comrade Wale Ayilara (Egba) and Comrade Niyi Osoba from Ijebu, each of them spending eight years each," he narrated.
He recalled an incident in 1996, when a candidate, Akin Shogbamu, an Egba indigene contested the presidency of the union in an attempt to succeed a fellow Egba man, who had completed the eight years tenure based on the zoning method. The attempt, according to him was thwarted by the efforts of voters across the four zones of the state. 'Why anybody in his right senses would want to draw back the hands of the clock by insisting that there is no zoning agreement," he queried.