The Chairman of the ACN in Kwara State, Kayode Olawepo has again accused the Peoples Democratic Party of collusion with INEC to continue to delay execution of the court order granted the party more than two weeks ago, to inspect, make copies and scan all the documents used for the April 26 governorship ballot in the state.

He said ACN lawyers who went to Baruten local council on Monday to inspect the polling documents were denied access to them.

Following its frustration in the execution of the court order, the state governorship Election Petition Tribunal had issued contempt proceeding against the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The form for the contempt charge was signed on Tuesday by the tribunal secretary, Uju Mesiobi-Emeto and has reportedly been served on the PDP and INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state.

Mr Olawepo said on Wednesday in Ilorin that the lawyers were told by one Mr. Ahmed, who is the INEC executive officer in Baruten that the local government offices of the commission lacked the power to issue Certified True Copy (CTT) of polling documents and that only the state headquarters could issue it.

"We suspect foul play between INEC and PDP," he said. "Why did the INEC State headquarters' legal officer, one Mr. Salako, direct us to their local government offices when he knows that these local branches have no power to issue CTT in the first instance? Is it to continue to delay until something sinister is done to the materials? This only goes to confirm that both the INEC and Kwara PDP are in collusion to disobey or frustrate the execution of the governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Ilorin.

"This is what has been happening in Kwara and we are by this means drawing the attention of the INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega and of course President Goodluck Jonathan, Inspector General of Police and the international community to these anomalies in the state," said Mr Olawepo.

PDP is law-abiding

Mr Olawepo also said the INEC state official in Kwara has continued to keep quiet despite the issuance of Form 48 against the commission and PDP for delaying and frustrating the execution of the court orders more than two weeks ago.

The state PDP however faulted the ACN claim, describing it as falsehood.

And in the Agricultural sector, before 2005, Shonga in Edu Local Government Area was relatively unknown in the country. But now the story is different because of the presence of the displaced Zimbabwean farmers, operators of Shonga Farms. The Farm has brought about tremendous changes in the fortunes of Kwara state with just 13,000 hectares of land by creating new jobs, transferring of modern agricultural skills to local farmers and increasing economic activities generally. Shonga Farms has the capacity to process 12 million broiler chickens per annum, 2,500 processed chickens per day, and 50,000 liters of milk per day and up to 25 to 50 metric tonnes yield per hectare for cassava, as against the national yield for cassava which is put at 12 to 15 metric tonnes per hectare. Interestingly, today Kwara has become the centre for commercial agriculture.

On the environment, Kwara State government launched the Clean and Green Initiative in 2003 to tackle the menace of dirt in Ilorin and its environs, hitherto placed among the dirtiest cities in Nigeria. Interestingly, the scheme was intended to perform two functions: keep the city clean and empower its people. And that it did. The scheme employed over 3000 operatives under a flexible work plan and opportunity for savings and micro-credit.

In conclusion, aside the five areas I examined there are more like the Kwara Football Academy, the vast network of roads, the Kwara Aviation College and a host of others. But in all, Governor Sarakis legacy in Kwara State is built around developing human capacity and economic empowerment for this generation of Kwarans and even the next generation. As he leaves the scene come Sunday, May 29th 2011, Kwara and Kwarans will miss him. That I can vouch. Well-done! Governor Saraki.