Kwara PDP petitions Malami over LG officials’ suspension

The Peoples Democratic Party in Kwara State has petitioned the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on what it called illegal dissolution and or suspension of the duly elected local government officials in the state.

The council chairmen and their councillors were elected in November 2017 for a three-year tenure but were sent on six-month suspension in June 2019.

The suspension was further extended for another six months in December 2019.

The PDP, in a petition dated January 28, 2020, said its petition was informed by the position of the minister on illegal dissolution of elected local government administrations by some governors across the country.

In the petition signed by its state chairman, Kola Shittu, the PDP noted that, “On the assumption of office of the Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in May 2019, he swiftly, without recourse to the extant constitutional provisions and judicial pronouncement/decision handed down by the highest court in the land, suspended all the duly elected LG chairmen, vice-chairmen and all the 193 councillors in the 16 LGAs in the state on spurious, baseless, and unfounded allegations of financial misappropriation by the local government chairmen in a purported petition written by a faceless individual.

“We wish to state emphatically and unambiguously that the name and or office of the vice-chairmen and the councillors were conspicuously missing and not mentioned in the said petition, they have not been invited or questioned by anyone or authority till date since June 2019.

“To the utmost chagrin and dismay of everyone in the state in a single sweep, the elected chairmen, vice-chairmen and all the 193 councillors were suspended and barred from assuming their respective duties and offices to date.”

The PDP requested the minister to prevail on the governor to reinstate the council bosses.