The Kwara State Government is gearing up for the initial local government elections in the state since 2019. In 2019, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ousted the council chairmen elected under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when the APC assumed leadership in the state.
This led to legal action by the displaced PDP council chairmen, who argued that they had not completed their tenure. Subsequently, Transition Implementation Committees (TIC) were appointed to replace the ousted chairmen in the 16 local councils, following the Supreme Court’s declaration that the constitution of transition committees was illegal.
Despite this, no local government elections have taken place since then. Last year, the ruling party in the state established a new State Independent Electoral Commission to organize local government elections.
The Chairman of the Commission, Malam Muhammed Baba Okanla, recently announced that preparations were underway for the elections, potentially scheduled for this year. Training and retreat sessions have been conducted by the Commission, and Okanla has collaborated with security agencies, inspecting local government offices and ensuring the necessary logistics are in place.
He also visited Ekiti to observe its recently concluded local council election and plans to monitor the upcoming local government election in Borno on January 20, 2024.
In response, the main opposition party in the state, PDP, expressed concerns about what it sees as the continued interference and appropriation 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?”
