A civil society group, Coalition for Good Governance and
Accountability (CGGA), yesterday expressed displeasure over the call
on Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to assent to the Freedom of
Information (FoI) bill passed by the 8th Assembly in the state.
The group said that the bill could not be passed now because of its
“statute-barred” status and must be re-presented to the 9th Assembly.
The Secretary General of the group, Hassan Omoiya, said in a statement
in Ilorin that “the FoI Bill has our support as a coalition of Kwarans
who desire transparency.”
He, however, expressed the group’s displeasure at the ” pressure” on
the new governor to sign a bill that was already statute-barred.
“The FoI Bill passed by the 8th Assembly is now statute-barred since
the bill wasn’t assented to by former Gov. Abdulfatai Ahmed whose
Assembly passed the bill.
“The bill will has to be represented to the new Assembly. That is the
democratic practice all over the world.
“Anything short of that will be against the time-tested parliamentary tradition.
“The only thing the governor may also do is to urge the new Assembly
to fast-track work on it. But he cannot sign it as it is now,” he
added.
Elites Network for Sustainable Development, the group that sponsored
the FoI bill, had called on governor Abdulrazaq to sign it into law.
The group insisted that the governor’s assent would confirm his
commitment to running a transparent government.
