Following a statement jointly signed by the Kwara State ALGON Chairman and Secretary, Joshua Omokanye and Abubakar Abdullahi Bata claiming that all the suspended chairmen of the 16 local council have unanimously withdrawn the court case instituted against State Governor, Abdurrahman Abdurrazaq and Kwara State House of Assembly over their alleged unconstitutional suspension from office, Chairmen of Ekiti Local Government, Comrade Yinka Dallas, Ilorin East Local Government, Engr. Lah Abdulmumeen, Irepodun Local Government, Hon. Muyiwa Oladipo, Chairman, Ilorin West Local Government Mrs Aminat Omodara have jointly issued a press release discrediting such report.
“We, the undersigned, dissociate ourselves from the statement issued by the Kwara State ALGON Chairman, Joshua Omokanye and Secretary, Abubakar Abdullahi Bata, purporting that all chairmen of the 16 local councils in the State had decided to withdraw the court case instituted against the State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and the State House of Assembly, over our illegal suspension from office.
We wish to state clearly that we are not and will never be party to such improbable alliance and arrangement fuelled by selfish interests. There is no basis for us to withdraw the court case, which we remain confident of winning and getting justice in the end.
It is instructive to state that the court case was filed by individual chairman and not by ALGON as a body, and there was no time we all met to agree to withdraw the case.”
The embittered council chairmen tagged their suspension by the Kwara House of Assembly on the recommendation of the State Governor as illegal and undemocratic, accusing the Government of sheer constitutional disregard.
“As it has been earlier noted, we insist that our suspension is illegal, undemocratic, null and void, and abuse of power by both the lawmakers and the State governor, who are out to score cheap political points. They blatantly disregarded a court injunction that barred them from dissolving or suspending elected council chairmen.
We stand by the position of our party on this matter, and restate that due process was not followed in our suspension. Indeed, the Kwara State House of Assembly put the cart before the horse. How could you suspend elected office holders on spurious allegation of misappropriation of funds without proper investigation? What happens to fair hearing?” They added.
They affirmed their dogged resolute to pursue the case until justice and fairness is served, daring that no amount of pressure can render them voiceless.
“We will, therefore, not backtrack on our pursuit for justice. As law-abiding citizens with nothing to fear or hide, we will go ahead to fight for our fundamental human rights through the instrumentality of the law, not minding the decision of some individuals to withdraw out of sheer cowardice and selfish interest, disguised as public interest. No amount of pressure, threat or media trial will deter us from seeking justice.”
They also pledged their unalloyed support for their party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP stressing that they will at all time place party interest above personal interest.
“Let us also use this medium to reiterate our support for the leadership of our party – the platform through which we got elected to serve our people. As loyal and dedicated party members, we will always stand by and respect the position of the party.”