Group Threatens To Sue Kwara Government Over ‘Governor’s Consent’ Clause In FOI Bill

The Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD) has threatened to drag the Kwara State Government to court over a controversial clause inserted into the newly proposed Kwara Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill 2025.

The Bill, which was stealthily transmitted to the Kwara State House of Assembly (KWHA) by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has drawn fierce criticism for introducing an Orwellian section, Section 31, that would require applicants to obtain the Governor’s written consent before accessing public information.

According to a statement issued by ENetSuD on Wednesday, the group accused Governor AbdulRazaq of plotting to cherry-pick which citizens, journalists, and organisations can access public information, especially those relating to government spending and high-profile contracts.

“Drop section 31 of the Kwara FOI Bill or meet us in court,” ENetSuD warned the Kwara State Government and lawmakers in the House of Assembly.

“Governor AbdulRahman can't control access to information in Kwara State,” the statement read. “This is a deliberate plot to silence scrutiny, weaponize information, and grant immunity to corruption.”

Section 31(1) of the bill reads: "Notwithstanding any provision of this Law, no information shall be made available to any applicant without the prior consent of the Governor in writing."

Even more damning is Section 31(2), which gives blanket legal cover to public officials who refuse to comply.

"No one acting pursuant to this Law shall be liable in any way if non-compliance with the sections in the Law is due to delay in the Governor granting his consent," it says.

ENetSuD accused the Kwara Assembly of complicity, alleging the lawmakers passed the bill to second reading "within a blink of an eye" without critical interrogation, setting a public hearing for Monday, May 19, 2025.

“This is legislative recklessness at its peak,” said AbdulRazaq Olayemi, ENetSuD’s Deputy Coordinator for Special Duties.

“The bill seeks to domesticate an Act already affirmed by the Supreme Court as binding on all subnational governments. Yet, the Governor is now attempting to mutilate it beyond recognition.”

The group noted that not even the President of Nigeria has such powers under the federal FOI Act, adding that the proposed Section 31 would turn the Governor into a gatekeeper of information that rightly belongs to the public.

The group’s statement continued: “Our thorough analysis of the clauses in the Bill shows that the Governor of Kwara State and sponsor of the executive Bill, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has imported an obnoxious clause in a strange section 31 that was not in the principal FOI Act 2011 of the Federation.

“Section 31(1) introduced by the Governor states that ‘Notwithstanding any provision of this Law, no information shall be made available to any applicant without the prior consent of the Governor in writing’.

“Section 31(2) also newly introduced by the Governor further states that ‘No one acting pursuant to this Law shall be liable in any way if non-compliance with the sections in the Law is due to delay in the Governor granting his consent.’

“These obnoxious sections are alien to an open governance legislation that seeks to promote public access to information as part of the transparency and accountability duties of the government, which have become an inalienable right of the citizens.

“The provisions cited above (section 31), as introduced by the Governor, are never in the FOI Act of the Federation that the Governor intends to domesticate, even though the domestication of the FOI Act is now needless following the Supreme Court judgement that the Act applies to Kwara State.

“For instance, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not empowered by the FOI Act to approve or give consent to a request for information under the FOI Act before the applicant can be provided with the requested information, as long as the information requested by the applicant is not among those that the Act itself forbids the entity from disclosing.

“What determines the information that can be provided to or withheld from an applicant has been clearly stated in the FOI Act without ambiguity.

“Such is not at the mercy or prerogative of the Governor of a State, as any information that needs the Governor to approve or consent to before disclosure is no more freely disclosed in the spirit of the FOI Act but a highly regulated one.

“We foresee that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq intends to determine which applicants (e.g. CSO, NGO, Media, politicians, etc.) he wants to be granting access to public information by cherry picking who to reply and who to deny access to information, especially if it concerns spending of public funds.

“We also envisage that the Governor's intention to include this section 31 is to filter the kind of information related to spending of public funds that he will approve for release so as to shield the government under his watch from the true accountability that the Bill seeks to provide to the citizens.”