THE controversy surrounding the creation of additional local government areas in Ekiti State notwithstanding, the state House of Assembly has commenced processes to give the proposal a legal backing.
The assembly began work on an executive bill sent to it by the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Monday, by putting it through the first reading.
Speaker of the assembly, Dr Adewale Omirin, read the bill.
The deputy majority leader of the assembly, Mr Ayodeji Odu, who moved the motion for the business of the day, urged his colleagues to consider the passage of the bill.
Meanwhile, no fewer than four different communities in the state have protested against merging them with other communities in the new local government areas proposed for creation by the state government.
The communities included Osi, Ire, Ikoro and Erinmope, with Osi community protesting their merger with Ifaki to make up Osi/Isokan Local Government Council Development Area (LCDA).
The people of Osi argued that their traditional ruler was first class and that they would "never be under Ifaki Ekiti, whose traditional ruler is second class."
Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has sued the state government, urging the court to stop it from proceeding with the creation of new LCDAs on the premise that the state government had jettisoned the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
The state House of Assembly was joined in the suit filed on behalf of the PDP by its Ekiti chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe.
The case is yet to commence at the court, as no judge had been assigned to try the suit.
Also, the state governor-elect, Mr Ayò Fayose, decried the creation of the 18 new council areas in the twilight of the Fayemi administration and described the action as "ungentlemanly."
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