What started as a rumour later took a life of its own as the Kwara
State Government recently suspended elected officials of the 16 Local
Governments of the state. Usually state governors in Nigeria have
mastered the art of going beyond the constitution to sack elected
officials of the third tier of government. Today, the new fad is to
“suspend” these officials probably to hide behind a finger in order to
continue attracting payment of Council funds from federation account
since it appears the federal authorities through the Nigeria Financial
Intelligence Unit, NFIU are determined to frustrate repeated diversion
of council allocation by state governors. In our state, hiding under
“misappropriation of funds” the Kwara State House of Assembly last
week unanimously recommended suspension of the 16 Council chairmen to
the State Government pending the outcome of investigation into
allegation of fraud against them. This decision was taken after
deliberations on a petition against the Councils leadership raised
before the House over maladministration since their inception by one
Mr. Saudi Aliyu from Ilorin West.
The said petition demanded the investigation of N33bn FAAC allocation
and over N10bn IGR accruing to the councils. The petitioner noted that
despite the billions of naira, salaries are owed and there are no
infrastructural developments to show, hence the need for the executive
and the legislative arms of the 16 Local Government Councils to be
investigated. Speaking on the petition, which was presented by the
House Leader, Hon Magaji Olawoyin, Hon Paku representing
Oloru/Malete/Ipaye Constituency, noted that the LGs are the closest to
the downtrodden and should be checked so to ensure good governance for
the grassroots.
The challenge however is the difficulty to find where the law permits
a state government to suspend elected council officials relying on a
petition filed by a faceless individual. Even so, how can such a
petition affect the fate of the whole 16 councils in one fell swoop?
Where is the locus standi? Understandably, this illegal action by the
state government led by the Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, for
alleged misappropriations of fund has caused the council officials to
head to court. They have consequently filed contempt charges against
the Governor and the State House of Assembly at the state High Court,
Ilorin. The state Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of
Nigeria, Mr Joshua Omokanye, disclosed this to the public. He said the
Governor’s action was against the judgment of a state High Court
delivered last Thursday which barred him and the state House of
Assembly from dissolving or suspending the Local Government chairmen
who had up till November 2020 to complete their three-year tenure of
office.
Omokanye, who is the Chairman of Oyun Local Government Area, said,
“Members of the public are being informed that there is a valid,
subsisting and final judgment of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin
delivered on June 13, 2019 in suit No KWS/115/2019 between Hajia
Risikat Opakunle and 15 others that determined that the Governor of
Kwara State and House of Assembly cannot dissolve the Local Government
councils in the state or suspend the 16 Local Government chairmen
during the tenure of their respective offices that will expire on
November 27, 2020. “Furthermore, members of the public are also being
informed that the judgment referred to also affirmed that the governor
of Kwara State and members of the state House of Assembly cannot
freeze the bank accounts of the 16 Local Government councils. Till
date, the judgment of the Kwara State High Court has not been set
aside, vacated or nullified by any court of competent jurisdiction in
Nigeria, be it the High Court that delivered the judgment or Court of
Appeal and it is not to our knowledge that any appeal has been lodged
before any Court of Appeal by the governor or the state House of
Assembly.”
While rejecting the suspension order placed on them, the ALGON
chairman who was flanked by his 15 colleagues, described the action of
the governor and the state lawmakers as “unconstitutional, null and
void, and abuse of office.”
Other stakeholders in the state have condemned the illegal suspension.
The state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) has kicked
against the suspension. We equally call on other stakeholders like
Civil Society Organizations and other political parties to prevail on
the state government to tarry on the side of justice. The state
government has no right to abridge the tenure of elected officials
except they resign, get impeached or get sacked by a competent court.
If it is a matter of accountability, the state has various channels
including the ICPC, EFCC, Police Fraud Unit etcetera to ascertain the
true position of things.
Even for argument sake, the state House of Assembly did not even apply
the highest tenet of justice which is fair hearing. They were not
invited to air their view over allegations of corruption. Petition was
received, and next thing was suspension. This cannot be the global
best practice. Let the state government follow due process and allow
the councils perform their due duty in accordance with the
constitution till their tenure expire.
