Osun APC demands withdrawal of park management bill

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for the immediate withdrawal of the recently passed Osun State Integrated Transport, Traffic and Park Management System Bill, describing it as unconstitutional and capable of creating a crisis in the state.

The state House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the bill, which the APC said the state lacked constitutional authority to enact, particularly regarding the regulation and management of motor parks.

In a statement signed by its director of media and information, Mogaji Kola Olabisi, the party argued that the bill would be at variance with Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which assigns the administration and revenue collection of public motor parks to democratically elected local government councils.

Olabisi also cited various court rulings which, according to the party, declared direct state takeover or appointment of park managers an unconstitutional infringement on the powers of local governments.

“The state lawmakers are hereby reminded that there is no point in becoming an instrument to the birth of a law that is not enforceable, as it is a glaring recipe for the disturbance of public peace in the state,” he said.

The APC urged the lawmakers to withdraw the bill, saying the Assembly should make productive and legal laws that would not create avoidable crises for the government.

Olabisi added, “We consider the immediate withdrawal of the bill by the state lawmakers as the most honourable and dignifying action to be taken in the overall interest of corporate peace in our state”.

He recalled that Governor Ademola Adeleke had earlier retreated from an executive order on motor park management following opposition, arguing that the administration should not seek to achieve through legislation what it described as an illegality.