A group of former Councilors, Supervisors, and Secretaries in the last Local Government Administrations between 2013 -2016 cabinet members had staged a peaceful protest to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed.
The protesters numbering about a hundred who converged in front of the Government House, Ilorin said that they have come to represent their over three hundred members who have not been able to feed their families and unable to send their children to school adding that since they left office in 2016, they are facing very difficult times.
Speaking through a spokesman, Hon. Ogundele Joseph Olabisi alleged: “the state government continues to claim that they have a shortfall in allocation whereas those who are still serving in the government cabinet are promptly paid without the complaint of allocation shortfall.”
Ogundele said that all efforts as party members from same All Progressives Congress have failed to add that they have been to the Emir of Ilorin, Chief Imam of Ilorin and other notable personalities but all these efforts yield no positive response.
Other members of the forum who expressed their reservations chorused said that the attitude of government towards their plight will no doubt affect their continued loyalty to the party and even the government. They said: “if our own party in government could treat us so badly, what happens if we belong to the other parties.
However the commissioner for information in Kwara State, Ajeigbe who acknowledged the protest by the former local government Councillors making a demand for payment of their arrears.
He said, while the plight of the protesting ex Councillors is unfortunate especially during these difficult times, it is pertinent to state that the Kwara State Government is not responsible for the said arrears as the Councillors served local government councils, a separate tier of government which gets it allocation directly from the Federal Government as does the state government.
Although the state government recognizes their right to peaceful protests, the protesters are advised to channel their demands to the individual local government councils that are owing them.
Meanwhile, the Ahmed administration stands ready to support the councils to pay these and other arrears as demonstrated by the recent release of N2b to local councils, including N100m, towards offsetting the arrears owed political office holders, out of the recent Paris Club Refund as well as the ongoing efforts to shore up their internally generated revenue.
