The Kwara State Government has announced the immediate suspension of Offa and Oyun Local Government councils for three months following communal clashes which claimed lives and properties worth millions of naira between the two communities.

The State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed has also approved the appointments of Alhaji Ishaq Abubakar and Alhaji G.B.O. Bello as Sole Administrators of Offa and Oyun Local Government Councils, respectively.

The Secretary to the Kwara State Government (SSG), Alhaji Isiaka Gold who announced this on Monday during a press briefing on the crisis explained that the governor’s decision to suspend the Councils of the two local governments was in exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Kwara State Law Number 4 of 2006 (Kwara State Local Government (Amendment) Law 2006).

Gold said that the Chairmen of Oyun and Offa local government councils, as Chief Security Officers of their respective councils, failed to protect the welfare of the people and maintain public order in both communities.

According to the SSG, the suspension was also borne out of the need to prevent the deterioration of the security situation in Offa and Erin-Ile due to the clear and present danger of the break-down of law and order, security and public safety in the two communities.

Governor Ahmed, according to the SSG, has also set up a judicial commission of enquiry headed by Justice Adeyinka Sikiru Oyinloye into the Erin-Ile/Offa communal crisis.

Other members of the committee include Barrister Abdulazeez Ayodeji Ibrahim, Retired Head of Service, Alhaji A.R. Shehu, Retired Permanent Secretary, Mr Job Afolayan, Mrs F.A. Lawal of the State Ministry of Justice and Dr Jelili Animashaun of the University of Ilorin.

Others are Assistant Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Ayodele, Litenant Colonel A.A. Ahmed of the Nigerian Army, Alhaji A.A. Yusuf of the Governor’s office.

The Judicial Commission is expected to submit its report within six weeks, with a promise that those apprehended for inciting violence or disrupting public order in Erin-Ile, Offa and other parts of the State would be made to face the full weight of the law.

The SSG recalled that when the crisis started government delegation met with the traditional rulers of Offa and Erin-Ile, while the Chairman, Kwara State Traditional Council of Chiefs and Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari was requested by the State Government “to mediate between the Olofa of Offa and the Elerin of Erin-Ile to promote a more cordial relationship between the two monarchs and their communities” on the need to ensure that the situation did not degenerate into lawlessness.