Local councils: Kwara Assembly cripples governor’s power

The Kwara state House of Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill into law that bars the state governor from dissolving elected local government councils at will.

The bill which had sought for a law to amend the Kwara State Local Government (Amendment) Law No. 3 of 2006, was initiated by a member representing Oke-Ogun Constituency, Mr. Kamal Fagbemi.

Following the passage of the bill, it is now unconstitutional for the state governor to at will disband democratically elected local government council chairmen in the state.

The Assembly’s Deputy Speaker, Mathew Okedare, who presided over Tuesday’s sitting, asked the Clerk of the House, Hajia Halimat Jummai Kperogi, to prepare a clean copy of the bill for the governor’s assent.

According to him, third tier of government, which is the local government, remains strategic to accelerated socio-economic transformation of the state.