How Ilorin West ‘loyal stakeholders’ nominated 3 candidates for council caretaker chair
As the tenure of the suspended Local Council officials in Kwara State rounds up in a few days, the state governor has set in motion the process for the appointment of caretaker committees to oversee the affair of the Councils.
THE INFORMANT247 had earlier reported that the governor directed top stakeholders, loyal to him, to nominate candidates to be appointed as caretaker chairmen, secretary, among other positions, across the sixteen local government areas in the state.
Meanwhile, the stakeholders in Ilorin West, the most populous council in the state, have reportedly submitted candidates to the governor for consideration.
Those submitted for the chairmanship seat are – Sulaiman Abubakar from Magaji Ngeri ward who topped the list, Gafar Tosho from Badari ward, and Saka Salman from Oko-Erin ward.
The arrangement was reached after days of inconclusive meetings amid tough screening and smart ‘politicking’ among the governor’s inner circle.
Sources, present at the meeting where the resolution was reached, narrated that after Thursday’s inconclusive meeting, stakeholders left the home of the State Party Secretary, Mustapha Ishowo, along Benin road in Adewole, Ilorin on Friday with the committee membership evenly distributed among the two constituencies in the Local council – Magagi Ngeri and Ajikobi/Alanamu.
While Magaji Ngeri constituency took the chairmanship seat, the secretary position was zoned to Ajikobi/Alanamu constituency.
Meanwhile, Magaji Ngeri with five wards namely; Magaji Ngeri, Oko-Erin, Wara-Osin, Badari, aside from the chairmanship slot also retained two supervisor positions – Hajia Bolajoko nominated from Baboko ward and Mallam Ajia from Wara-Osin.
For Ajikobi/Alanamu constituency with seven wards – Alanamu, Ogidi, Ubandawaki, Ajikobi, Ojuekun/Sarumi, Oloje, and Adewole – Mr. Sule Yahaya from Ajikobi ward was unanimously nominated as Secretary, with Hon. Olole from Ojuekun/Zarumi and Hon. Ibrahim Babareke from Ubadawaki clinching the supervisor offices respectively as well.
The resolution, THE INFORMANT247 gathered, was signed by the two honourable from the Local Government, the Commissioner for Education, Barr, Kunle Sulaiman, among other top stakeholders within the governor caucus in Ilorin West.
However, it is not yet clear if the governor would go with the list or 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.
It’s also gathered, from top reliable sources, that close family members and associates of the governor are shopping for popular candidates to be nominated into the committee.
‘What happened initially’
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 antigraft 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 six 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 amount 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.
