Chairmen of the 16 local governments in Kwara state have described their suspension as unconstitutional, null and void and abuse of office by the members of the Kwara State House of Assembly and governor of the state.
Recall that the members of the Kwara assembly, on Tuesday, recommended the suspension of all the 16 local government chairmen over misappropriation of N33billion, following a resolution of the House after it considered a petition written by one Seidu Aliyu and presented at the plenary.
Also, the state governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, suspended the 16 local government Council executive and legislative committees in line with the earlier recommendation of the State House of Assembly.
However, the chairmen, during a press conference in Ilorin on Wednesday, said the assembly and governor’s actions were stillborn and a complete waste of time and resources deployed to do the exercise.
Chairman of ALGON in the state, Hon Joshua Omokanye, said they were democratically elected to the office as chairmen of the 16 local government in the state and were entitled to remain in office till the end of their tenure of office as guaranteed by law and validated by the judgment of the Kwara state high court.
“There is a subsisting and final judgment of the Kwara state high court, Ilorin, delivered on 13th June 2019 in suit No KWS/115/2019 between Hajia Risikat Opakunle and 15 other vs Governor of Kwara state and 2 other that determined that the governor of Kwara state and house of assembly of Kwara state cannot dissolve the local government chairmen in Kwara state or suspend the chairmen during the tenure of their respective offices that will expires on 27th November, 2020.
“We therefore, want to state clear and categorrically that we remain the authentic and legitimate chairmen of the local governments in Kwara state and state that the actions of the governor and the house of assembly cannot stand in the face of the Constitution and the subsisting judgment of the Kwara state high court,” Omokanye said.
They also announced that they had instituted a case of court contempt against the governor.
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