By Mumini AbdulKareem
Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq will make the release of the time table for the forthcoming local government elections in the state public when the time is right for him.
Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development, Architect Aliyu Muhammad Saifudeen, made this known during an interview with National Pilot in his office last week.
Opposition parties and politicians in the state have expressed concern over the decision of the Governor to announce activities for council election and failure to inaugurate the state electoral commission (KWSIEC) less than four months to the expiration of the tenures of the suspended council chairman in the state.
But according to the commissioner, the governor is receiving the best of advice on the issue and in charge of the situation adding that he will make the necessary pronouncement at the appropriate time when he feels it right.
“The truth of the matter is that to the best of my knowledge, I have not heard any official declaration from the state government about the local government election. And that does not mean that the governor is not receiving the best of advice on the issue that.
“Of course we have a lot of people who are taking charge of the political activity in the state but the question of whether people are coming out or not, you see in the first place there is a saying that man is a political animal. So even if the local government election is still about ten years away, people can still nurse ambitions I think that is legitimate.
“But the only thing is we just have to do it within the law (because) you cannot start campaigning and disturbing people about your ambition. But you can be very sure that the Governor is in charge of the (situation) and has his advisers (on the issue). As soon as it is good for him, the timetable will be out”, Saifudeen submitted.
Speaking on the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has affected the councils administration, the commissioner said some of the workers not on ground are working from home in line with the directive of the state government to observe adopted protocols.
“…the truth of the matter is you have heard that we have Covid-19 protocols and part of it is that people should work from home, we are not absent. A lot of people you don’t see at work are not absent but they are working from home based on government directive.
“But as you can see, a lot of us top government functionaries and senior staff not less than level 14 if need be are in the office. So if you go round now you’ll see people working with my directors. In fact 3 of them just left my office now including the Permanent Secretary, so we are working. At the local government levels, yes if you say there is absenteeism in this Covid-19 period I will not subscribe to that wholly but if you say before this well it’s possible. I wasn’t commissioner then but with my coming now, we’re going to address it”, he noted.
