Nigeria, May 7 -- The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the decision of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to sack local government chairmen and councillors in the state.

The apex court also noted that the replacement of the sacked officials with caretaker committees was illegal and fined Mr Makinde's administration N20 million.

While the court agreed that the tenures of the sacked council chairmen and councillors have expired, it ordered that all their outstanding salaries and allowances must be paid with immediate effect.

Few hours after his inauguration as governor in 2019, Mr Makinde sacked the officials who were elected in 2018.

He told them to hand over the property of their councils to the most senior staffer in their respecti...