Kwara Government Prepares For First Local Elections Since 2019

The Kwara State Government is getting ready for its first local government elections since 2019.

In 2019, the All Progressives Congress (APC) took control in Kwara State, leading to the removal of council chairmen who had been elected under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This led to legal action taken by the dissatisfied PDP council chairmen who believed their tenure was incomplete. Subsequently, the removed chairmen were replaced by Transition Implementation Committees (TIC) led by chairmen in the 16 local councils of the state.

However, no local government elections have taken place since then, even as the Supreme Court declared the constitution of transition committees illegal.

The ruling party in the state established a new State Independent Electoral Commission last year to organize local government elections, leaving the populace awaiting the conduct of the exercise.

The Commission’s Chairman, Malam Muhammed Baba Okanla, traveled across the state to inspect and assess the condition of the offices, declaring that they were not in good shape

However, at his office in Ilorin on Thursday, Okanla revealed that preparations were in top gear for the conduct of elections, possibly this year, as training and retreat had been held by the Commission.

After the Commission toured the 16 local government offices last year, the management engaged in brainstorming sessions to determine the necessary logistics for a fair, acceptable, free, and peaceful electoral process.

Okanla mentioned collaborating with security agencies for the election and shared that he visited Ekiti to gather firsthand information on its recently concluded local council election. He plans to be in Borno to monitor the local government election scheduled for January 20, 2024

In response to the situation, the main opposition party in the state, PDP, expressed concerns through spokesman Olusegun Olushola Adewara. He stated, “Our party is worried, just like all well-meaning Kwarans, about the continued encroachment and usurpation of local government administration by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq

“This is the first time in Kwara history, if not in Nigeria, that a government will use TIC to run local government administration for more than four years uninterrupted. This is very sad and unimaginably wicked.

“The court has spoken in clear terms against him, the people have raised eyebrows, civil societies have raised concerns and even dragged him to court. The governor is appealing obvious cases which have been determined by the Supreme Court over and over. What does that tell us?”

Kanyi Daily recalls that Suspected armed kidnappers reportedly abducted four people in the Ile-Ire district of Ifelodun Local Government Area in Kwara State