A State High Court in Kwara State, sitting in Ilorin yesterday sacked all the chairpersons and members of the Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) in all the 16 Local Government Areas of the state. Delivering judgement in the suit numbered KWS/117/2021, with the incorporated trustees of the Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENETSUD) as plaintiffs and the Kwara State Government, Kwara State Governor and the Attorney General of Kwara State as defendants, Justice H.A. Gegele averred that the appointment of the TIC members as illegal and the action taken by the State Government as “abuse of power” and “Executive rascality.”
The judge ruled that ENETSUD has locus standi to pursue the case in court of competent jurisdiction as against the submission of the State Attorney General, Salman Jawondo. While admitting all the exhibits and evidences submitted by the group, the Court agreed that the Kwara State Government suspended “democratically-elected Local Government Councils” and then replaced them with “illegal Transition Interim Committees that are not known to any law.” The court subsequently granted all the prayers that were sought by the Incorporated Trustees of ENETSUD.
The prayers include the following; A declaration that section 29 (1) to (5) of the Kwara State Local Government Law, 2005 is in conflict with section 7(1) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and thus null, void and of no effect whatsoever to the extent that it empowered Governor of Kwara State to dissolve the democratically-elected Local Government councils and replace them with Transitional Implementation Committees/ Caretaker or whatsoever name called appointed by the Governor or any other body;
A declaration that by virtue of the combined effect of section 7 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the provisions of section 18 and 28 the Kwara State Local Government Law, 2005 the Governor of Kwara State had no power to dissolve the democratically-elected councils of the sixteen Local Governments of Kwara State;
A Declaration that 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) does not recognize the purported Transitional Implementation Committee/ Caretaker or any other name whatsoever called in Kwara State and the creation or appointing of such is therefore unconstitutional;
A Declaration that the Respondents lack vires to release or use Kwara State resources to fund purported Transitional Implementation Committee/ Caretaker or any other name whatsoever called in view of sections 1(1), 7(1) and 15 (5) of the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended);
An Order setting aside the purported appointment of Transitional Implementation Committees by the Kwara State Government of 5th March, 2021 or any other dates whatsoever;
An Order directing the 2nd Respondent (Kwara State Governor) to recover/refund back to the State Treasury all funds, remunerations and benefits already paid to members of the said Transitional Implementation Committees;
And an Order directing the 2nd Respondent (Kwara State Governor) to conduct Local Government election in the whole local government area of Kwara state with immediate effect in accordance with section 7 (1) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
Credit- nation
