Kwara: Court restrains governor from removing auditor general

The National Industrial Court sitting in Akure, Ondo State, has granted an order restraining Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq from forcing the state’s Auditor General to hand over the duties of his office.

Justice K. D. Damulak gave the order while ruling on suit number NICN/IL/01/2022 filed by Mr Joseph Bamigboye (SAN) on behalf of Mr. Samuel Adeyeye, Auditor General of Kwara state.

Adeyeye has dragged Governor AbdulRazaq before the court seeking the court to, among others, declare his purported removal from office as the Auditor General of the state null, void, unconstitutional and of no effect.

Joined in the suit as co-defendants with the governor are the Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, Kwara state House of Assembly Public Accounts Committee Chairman, Kwara State Civil Service Commission and Kwara State Head of Service.

Adeyeye had in his suit before the court asked that his removal from office of Auditor-General by the defendants was a breach of Section 127 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended be declared that such was in consequence null, void and of no effect.

He prayed the court that his earlier purported removal from office was grossly unconstitutional and a breach of his constitutional rights.

He also asked the court to declare that his letter of removal from office of the Auditor-General of Kwara State by the Chairman, Civil Service Commission dated January 28, 2022 was incompetent, null and void urging the court to declare it null and void