By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State has asked the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWSIEC) to comply with the recent court order restraining it from proceeding with the local government elections slated for September 21, 2024.

The party, which expressed its readiness for the local government election any day once KWASIEC follows the laid down rules and regulations, “kicked against illegal actions deliberately concocted as a booby trap to ensure the nullification of the outcome of the elections if it does not favour the government in power”.

A Federal High Court in Abuja had restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the National Voter Register to the KWSIEC to conduct the September 21 local government elections in the State, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by PDP for interlocutory injunction.

Justice Peter Lifu also stopped KWSIEC and the State Attorney General (AG) from receiving, accepting, or using the national voter register or any part relating to Kwara State from the electoral body for the Council’s election in Kwara State.

Speaking further on the development while on a radio programme, ‘Oro Ilu’ on Sobi FM, Ilorin, on Monday, August 5, 2024, Abdulganiyu Abdulqadir, Press Officer on Local Matters to Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, said the party sought the injunction to stop the unconstitutional actions by the state electoral body in the election process.

Abdulqadir said the PDP, as a law-abiding party, has complied with all election processes as directed by the KWSIEC in its bid to take control of local governance and rescue Kwara from the hands of incompetent political officeholders who were put in the position by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.

He, however, noted that it was necessary to address the anomalies by KWSIEC, which it accused of deliberately violating the rules as stipulated in the Local Government Electoral Laws of Kwara State.

“For instance, KWSIEC under Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has refused to follow the timeline for the election as stipulated by law. When this government wanted to avoid LG elections then, it set a year timeline for the election process. We all kicked against it then.

“Now that the Supreme Court has boxed them into a corner and they are having a leeway, the state government is plotting to have it within 4 months. That’s in flagrant violation of the law that you made and we must not allow such illegality,” he added.

Saraki’s media aide also lauded the ruling of the Supreme Court which granted financial autonomy to the local government, saying it would enhance grassroots development and promote true democracy.

He said: “The PDP is ready for the election, which we have been clamoring for since 2019 when Gov. Abdulrazaq came to power and illegally dissolved the duly elected LG executives.

“He never wanted to hold the local government election but found himself boxed into a corner following the Supreme Court ruling, which the state government initially kicked against.

“For more than five years, no one knows how the local government fund was being expended in Kwara, and we really need to query the Kwara government for the use of LG funds.

“As it stands, the PDP is the only alternative for the people because the state has continued to regress since the coming of the APC government in Kwara State.

“Now that there’ll be a legitimate government at the local level, the people can have a government closer to them. The political holders too will owe allegiance to the people and not the Governor as we have it in Kwara today.”