Group calls Kwara Gov. To Constitute KWASEC, Conduct LG Election November.

Coalition of Civil Society on autonomy of local goverment in Nigeria has called on the Kwara state government to constitute the Kwara State Electoral Commission KWASIEC and conduct local government election by November.
The Convenner of Coalition of Civil Society on Autonomy of local government in Nigeria Mallam Muss Aliu who made the call at a press briefing organised by a Coalition of Civil Society on Autotomy of local goverment in Nigeria said it was an aberration if local government election not conducted by first of November in the state
“It is  submitted  that  having  regard  to  the  provisions  of  the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) and the  Kwara  State  Local  Government  Electoral,  Law we shall  do  the  followings. Where  the  government  refuses  to reinstate the members of the illegally dissolved members of KWASIEC or  constitutes a new one  and  inaugurate  them  on  or  before  the  15th  day  of  November,  2020, this illegality will be challenged in court immediately, It  is  also  clear  from  the  provisions  of  the  law  that  any  person  who  is  a  registered  member  of  a  political  party  cannot  be  member(s)  or  Chairman  of  the  Commission, that the Governor of Kwara State having operated without democratically elected Councils for more than sixteen months, should set in motion immediately the machinery for the conduct of the Local Council election forthwith.
“it  will  be  patently  illegal  for  any  Governor  and  specifically  in  this  case,  the  Governor  of  Kwara  State  to  either  constitute  a  Care-taker  committee  or  Transition  committee  or even run the council by Civil Servants under the headship of the Director, Personnel and Management (DPM) as presently being done in Kwara State.” He added
According to Muss Aliu, “The  laws  regulating  and  governing  the  conduct  of  local  government  elections  in  Kwara  State  are  the  1999  Constitution  as  amended and the Kwara State Local Government  Electoral  Law  Cap  K 32  of  2006, The  1999  constitution  as  amended  provides  in  section  7 (1)  as  follows:-
“The  system  of  local  government  by  democratically  elected  local  government  councils  is  under  this  constitution  guaranteed  and  accordingly  the  government  of  every  state  shall  subject  to  section  8  of  this  constitution  ensure  their  existence  under  a  law which  provides  for  the  establishment  structure  composition,  finance  and  functions  of  such  councils’.”
“A  careful  perusal  of  the  provisions  cited  above,  shows  that  the  constitution  or  establishment  of  any  form  of  administrative  structure  in  the  local  councils  by  whatever  name  called  aside  from  a  democratically  elected  council  is  therefore  illegal,  null  and  void.    From  the  above,  therefore,
“To establish the illegality being committed by the Governor of Kwara State with  regards  to  delay  by  the  Governor  in  constituting  the  Kwara  State  Independent  Electoral  Commission, and subsequent holding of Local Government elections,  we have looked at the provisions of Kwara State Local Government Electoral Law particularly section  7 (3) that  states  thus:-
“The  elections  referred  to  in  subsection  (2)  of  this  section  shall  be  held  on  a  day  not  earlier  than  60  days  and  not  later  than  30  days  before  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  office  of  the  last  holder  of  that  office”.
The  legal  implication  of  the  above  section  are  as  follows:- Elections  to  the  office  of  a  local  government  Chairman  must not  be  earlier  than  60  days  to  the  expiration  of  the  present  office  holders’  tenure  i.e.  in  the  case  in  hand  not  earlier  than  1st  October  2020.
“Not  later  than  30  days  to  the  expiration  of  the  incumbent  office  holder  and  which  in  our  case  in  Kwara  should  not  be  later  than  the  1st  of  November,  2020.  The  Incumbent  office  holders  having  been  sworn  into  office  on  the  1st  of  December,  2018.
“From the above it is established that the election  into  local  councils  in  Kwara  State  can  validly  and  legally  be  conducted  from  the  2nd  day  of  October,  2020  since  the  said  date  is  not  in  any way  earlier  than  60  days  to  the  expiration  of  the  present  office  holders’  tenure.
“If  however,  the  government  of  Kwara  State  refuses  to  conduct  the  said  election  throughout  the  month  of  October,  2020;  by  Kwara  State  Local  Government  Electoral  Law,  the  government  must  conduct  the  elections  on  or  before  the  1st  of  November,  2020  and  failure  to  do  this  will  definitely  be  in  breach  of  the  provisions  of  the  laws  and  the  government  can  be  compelled  through  court  action  to  do  the  needful. We are more than ready to just do that.
Having  carefully  explained  the  legal  implications,  we observe  that  the  conclusions  that  can  be  deduced  from  the  body  language  of  the  Governor  are  as  follows:-
“Having  failed  to  constitute  the  Kwara  Independent  Electoral  Commission (hereinafter called the KWASIEC)  till  date,  the  likelihood  of  constituting  the  same  this  month  is  not  feasible.
“If  however,  the  said  Commission  is  constituted  this  month,  there  is  a  very  strong  probability  that  inaugurating the  Commission  may  take  some  few  weeks  if  not  months  going  by  the  Governor’s  antecedents.
Therefore,  if  the  said  Commission  is  not  constituted  in  the  month  of  October,  2020  and inaugurated  immediately,  the  provisions  of  the  Kwara  State  Local  Government  Electoral  Laws  would  have  been  observed  in  the  breach  and  a  legal  action  to  compel  the  Governor  to  act  will immediately be instituted.
“Section  20  of  the  Kwara  State  Local  Government  Electoral  Law  deals  with  the  issuing  of  notice  of  elections  by  the  commission  and  states  as  follows:-
“Not  less  than  14  days  before  the  date  appointed  for  holding  of  an  election  under  this  law,  the  commission  shall  publish  a  notice  within  the  state:- Stating  the  date  of  the  election  and appointing  the  place  of  which  nomination  papers  are  to  be  delivered.
“When  section  20(1)  is  read  together  with  section  7 (3)  of  the  law,  one  will  discover  that  for  the  government  of  Kwara  State  to  follow  this  law  to  the  letter,  the  KASIEC  has  to  be  constituted  and  inaugurated  not  later  than  31st  of  October,  2020. But then the Government of Kwara State has in its hand the illegal dissolution of the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) constituted on the 16th of June 2017. The National Industrial Court of Nigeria in its judgment of 29th September 2020 declared illegal the dissolution of KWASIEC on 20th of August 2019. The summary of the judgment delivered by Hon Justice K. D. Damulak is: that the removal of the claimant is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void. The Court also held that the claimant is entitled to be reinstated to his office as member, Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission and be paid all his salaries and allowances from August 2019 until the end of his tenure in 2022.
“Our view is that there are plethora of decided legal authorities on the illegality of dissolution of tenured statutory Commission appointments in Nigeria. If this one goes on appeal the result cannot be different and the Governor by going on appeal will only be buying time and in the process waste the time of the people and crumble democracy at the local level in Kwara State.
“The Governor of Kwara is better advised to reinstate the dissolved commission and immediately set in motion the machinery for the conduct of the already due Local Government election in Kwara State. However, should the Governor decides to go on appeal, we shall on behalf of the people of Kwara state join issues with him at the appeal.
“It is customary in the history of KWASIEC to appoint rabid persons or even card carrying and personal devotees of the Governor as the Chairman and Members of KWASIEC. This is offensive to Sections  12,  13  and  14  of  the  Kwara  State  Local  Government  Electoral  Law.  Chairman   and members of the commission must be apolitical.  Therefore,  if  any  of  the  political  allies  of  the  Governor  or  the  government  of  the  day  is  nominated  to  be Chairman and/or  members of the  commission,    individual  or  group  can  challenge  the  said  appointment  in  Court.” He added.
“It should be noted that at the dawn of the administration of Governor Abdulrahaman Abdulrazak, the elected council he met was dissolved. Since then, he has been running the affairs of the sixteen Local Government Areas using the Civil Servants at the Local Government level. From the month of May 2019 to the month of September 2020 the total sum of N41,251,620,745.68 had accrued to the sixteen Local Government Councils of Kwara State.
“The government of Governor Abdulrahaman Abdulrazak must account for the sum of Forty One Billion, Two Hundred and Fifty One Million, Six Hundred and Twenty Thousand, Seven Hundred and Forty-Five Naira and sixty eight Kobo (N41,251,620,745.68) representing the allocations of the sixteen Local Government councils of Kwara State for past sixteen months (May, 2019-August, 2020).
Where this is not done, individuals and group like our own, will be justified to go to appropriate court to compel the Governor to account for the money of the sixteen Local Government Councils of the State. That is exactly what we shall do unless the governor discharges the duty of accountability he owes the people immediately.” He said