By Dare Akogun
A civil society organisation based in Kwara state The Elites Network for Sustainable Development, ENetSuD, has accused the State governor mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq of killing the local government system in the state.
ENETSUD coordinator Dr. Abdul Lateef Alagbonsi made the accusations when members of the European Union Election Observers Mission for the Nigerian 2023 election met with him at its office in Ilorin.
The EU team led by Nuno Simoes said the purpose of its visit is to engage ENetSuD on its anti-corruption efforts in Kwara State, and how accessible information from the Kwara government is available to Kwarans.
Alagbonsi said the governor removed the democratically-elected Local Government council members few weeks after his assumption of office and replacing them with illegal Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) who have been managing the affairs of the 16 LGAs.
According to him “They had a clue of our successful court cases at High and Appeal Courts, how the government is buying time on frivolous appeal at the supreme court.
“They were informed about how the government has used about 4 years in office without conducting Local Government election in Kwara State,” he said.
Dr. Alagbonsi revealed that the team also had the opportunity of knowing the journey of the domestication of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in Kwara State, and how the 9th Kwara Assembly led by Rt. Hon. Saliu Yakubu Danladi has killed the bill which according to him has jeopardized the gains made on public access to information in Kwara State.
“They also got a feedback on the status of Social Audit in Kwara State, which had been technically suspended by the government that initiated it.
“They were briefed about the process and impacts of social audit, and how the findings from the audit, all of which are associated with systemic corruption, discouraged the government from continuing with the program.
“They were informed about how our efforts to curb vote buying through a partnership with INEC was aborted by politically-exposed persons.
“Finally, the novelty of our partnership CEMP program with Gobir Foundation was discussed with the Observers with the view of exploring future collaboration on the translation of our developmental data into service delivery for the people in various Kwara communities,” he said.
