The Kwara State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has faulted the report of the Kwara State House of Assembly Committee on Ethics and Privileges that cleared the Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. Razak Atunwa of allegations of financial impropriety leveled against him by the former Chief Whip of the Assembly, Alh. Iliasu Ibrahim.

The state chairman of ACN, Mr. Kayode Olawepo in a statement issued in Ilorin yesterday decried what it called the overbearing attitude of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, "which now determines how the House is run, and the inhuman treatment being meted to Hon. Iliasu Ibrahim just for speaking out against what he deemed to be the corrupt tendencies of Speaker Razaq Atunwa".

But in a swift reaction to ACN’s position, the ruling PDP in the state denied any interference in the running of the affairs of the state’s House of Assembly.

The publicity secretary of PDP in the state, Alh. Mas’ud Adebimpe described the statement as the ranting of a failed party, urging the people of the state to ignore the "distraction tendencies of ACN and its leaders".

Adebimpe explained that members of the House Ethics Committee are men of integrity who could not be influenced by anybody in the discharge of their constitutional duties.

The ACN in its statement submitted that it rejected the outcome of the "kangaroo" committee which dismissed the petitions written against speaker Razaq Atunwa. It averred that the haste with which the committee concluded its assignment raised genuine concerns about possible hijack by the PDP leadership.

"The allegations made against Atunwa were made against him as the speaker, not as a PDP member. Therefore its investigation must involve the members of the opposition party in the House for it at least to show that it was not treated as a purely PDP affair," the statement noted.