Kwara APC backs governor over dissolution of statutory commissions

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state, Alhaji Adebayo Azeez, has said that the decision of the state government to dissolve statutory commissions and suspend leadership of some other bodies put in place under the immediate past administration was a right step in the right direction.

It is recalled that the APC controlled government has, in the last three months of its inauguration, suspended many public officers elected or appointed and resolved to dissolve some bodies including the statutory ones constituted by the previous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration.

Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq recently requested the state House of Assembly to approve the dissolution of three statutory commissions inaugurated last May shortly before the former governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed left the office.

The commissions are the Kwara State Civil Service Commission, Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission and the Kwara State House of Assembly Service Commission.

The governor, who based his request on the ground of alleged acts of misconduct said that the officials of the commissions including the chairmen and the members had by their acts of misconduct, demonstrated that they were incapable of discharging functions of their offices.

The House which has all its 24 members from the APC granted the request as it approved the dissolution of the three commissions.

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The House had earlier made a resolution that the governor should suspend, for six months, the executive and legislative members of all the local government councils in the state and, later, further resolved that all the Directors of Personnel Management (DPM) and treasurers of the council be suspended.

The lawmakers said the officers should be suspended while a petition against them on alleged misappropriation of the federal allocations to the council in the last two years is investigated.

The governor immediately approved the suspensions of the executive and legislative members and has also reportedly approved the suspension of the career officers

These dissolutions and suspensions and some other policies of the government were seen in some quarters as decisions by the government to deliberately undo what have been duly done under the previous government with many especially among members of the PDP considering the decisions as not being justifiable.

However, speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in Ilorin at the weekend, Alhaji Azeez said that the decisions of the government were welcome because they were in line with expectations of many people of the state.

The politician alleged that the state suffered a serious set back in the last 16 years both under the administration of Bukola Saraki and his successor, Ahmed, who belonged to the same camp.

He said it was only after this new administration of the APC took over the government that the state started witnessing progress that had eluded it in the last 16 years.

Alhaji Azeez, who described the governor as God-sent, urged people of the state to cooperate with his administration, saying this would help to turn around the fortune of the state.