As the tenure of the suspended Local Council officials in Kwara State expires this week, the process for the appointment of caretaker committees to oversee the affairs of the Councils has continued to breed heavy disquiet across political divides within the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state.
THE INFORMANT247 had earlier reported that the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq had directed top stakeholders, loyal to him, and political office holders to nominate candidates to be appointed as caretaker chairmen, secretary, among other positions, across the sixteen local government areas in the state.
A report published on Sunday by this medium narrated how stakeholders in Ilorin West hand-picked three candidates for consideration as caretaker chair, among other positions. The resolution, however, doesn’t go down well with some party stalwarts who vehemently rejected the list.
As Ilorin West stakeholders battle to give their respective candidates preference before the governor who has the final decision, the atmosphere in Ilorin South is perhaps more tense as the new ‘politicking’ resuscitates the old People Democratic Party’s Fagbemi and Akogun game.
THE INFORMANT247 gathered that the choice of candidate for the caretaker chairman in the Local Government revolves round Mr. Suleiman Abdulsalam popularly known as Sule Cement, a former House of Assembly candidate and Mr. Sulu Gambari Zubair also known as Aiki, a former Ilorin South chairmanship candidate.
Sule Cement is viewed to be a key loyalist of the governor before the primaries that saw his emergence as the party’s flagbearer. He is, likewise, rumoured to be the governor’s starboy in the game.
The former APC House of Assembly candidate, who was later disqualified due to certificate scandals, is being backed by the Special Adviser and Counsellor to the governor, Mr. Kale belgore, another bigwig, General Agbabiaka – both belonging to the chief executive’s immediate circle, Fagbemi camp, during the primaries – and lately the honourable representing Ilorin South constituency at the State Assembly, Hon. Hassan AbdulAzeez Elewu.
It’s further learnt that the resolution on Sule Cement and others has been forwarded to the governor for consideration through a former senator in Kwara North, Sen. Ahmad mohammed.
However, his opponent, chiefly known to be a member of the Akogun camp, is enjoying the unalloyed support of the Special Adviser to the governor on Special Duties, Mr. Yinka Aluko; the Honourable Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Hajia Sa’adatu Modibbo Kawu; and like Cement, the honourable representing Ilorin South constituency at the State Assembly, Hon. Hassan AbdulAzeez Elewu.
According to sources in the know of situation, Elewu’s legal counsel, Barrr. Jimoh convinced him to drop Aiki for Sule Cement.
While Aluko supported Mashood Mustapha during the 2018 APC primaries; Sa’adatu indorsed her husband, Ishaq Kawu Moddibo; while Elewu patronized Prof. Oba AbdulRaheem – mostly Akogun, until the post-primaries’ alliances.
Though, it is not yet clear who’ll forward the resolution on Aiki and his team to the governor, it was, withal, gathered that it might be submitted by either Mr. Aluko or Mrs. Kawu.
The governor might, howbeit, explore inward for more favourable candidates as he had also reportedly directed some selected elders and forums to come up with candidates for the same seats.
Close family members and associates of the governor are also reportedly shopping for popular candidates to be nominated into the committees.
Meanwhile, a host of other party stalwarts, loyal to the Minister for Information and Tourism Alhaji Lai Mohammed, led by the Party chairman in Ilorin South, Alhaji Monsuru on Monday staged a protest against both candidates, asking the governor to conduct election instead of appointing caretaker committees.
The Governor had in June 2019 suspended the chairmen elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party from office for six months following allegations of financial misappropriation.
Upon the expiration of the suspension in December 2019, AbdulRazaq extended it by another six months.
He premised the decision on an ongoing investigation of the council bosses by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and a subsisting resolution of the House of Assembly.
“The extension comes on the heels of the yet-to-be-concluded probe into the alleged financial infractions of the council heads and their legislative committees by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),” a statement by his chief press secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, in June, reads.
However, 17 months after the suspension and commencement of the investigation, neither the anti-graft body nor the state assembly has made public resolutions of their respective findings.
Also, the governor is yet to reinstate the suspended council bosses barely four days to the expiration of their tenures.
FG, Supreme Court kick against appointment of LG caretaker c’ttees
The Federal Government had in January opposed the appointment of caretaker committees for the third tier of Government by state governors in the country and a Supreme Court judgment had in 2016 declared such appointments as illegal and unconstitutional.
In January 2020, The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had asked state governors operating caretaker committees at the local government level to immediately disband such committees and restore democratically elected representatives.
According to Malami, caretaker committees were outrightly illegal and unconstitutional as they amounted to a breach of the provisions of Section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended).
This is as he described the practice of some state governors dissolving elected local government councils as unconstitutional, null and void and continued disobedience of the Supreme Court judgment of 9th December 2016 in the case of Governor of Ekiti State & Ors vs Prince Sanmi Olubunmo & 13 Ors.
