Kwara ACN Governorship candidate in the 2011 poll, Mohammed Dele Belgore, has said the state government ought to apologise to the thousands of potential beneficiaries of his truncated free holiday coaching rather than continue to give "lame and contradictory excuses."

The senior advocate also insisted that permission was sought and received from the concerned head teachers before the scheme kicked off, contrary to what he called "contradictory and laughable" excuses by the Kwara State Government.

The government had last week ordered government-owned schools in the state to stop the free holiday classes sponsored by Belgore on the ground that he did not secure government's permit to use the facilities.

But a statement by Belgore's media aide, Rafiu Ajakaye, said the government had lied and was only giving face-saving yet contradictory excuses.

He said the initiative would proceed at private facilities if the government disallows the use of public-owned facilities for the laudable effort.

The statement read: "We cannot but laugh at the puerile excuses the Kwara State Government is giving for stopping an effort geared towards improving the educational standards of our youths. Rather than apologise to the people of Kwara State for such shameful conduct, the government has continued to give lame yet fallacious and contradictory excuse that we did not comply with laid-down rules, which incidentally and laughably too were just concocted after the incident to justify the shameful behaviour.

"Whilst the Governor's spokesman Muhyideen Akorede said we ought to pass through the Ministry of Education and not the head teachers, the Ministry of Education said anybody willing to use schools should apply through the head teachers. For the record, we wrote to the head teachers of the respective schools and got their nod to use the facilities. Permissions were sought and received.

"In fact, the action of the state government contradicts the universal human rights that makes dissemination of useful knowledge a fundamental right of all human beings. It is therefore a shame that Kwara State Government, which has failed over the years to adequately equip the people with sound education, is bent on frustrating private citizens who see education as the only true empowerment and are working in that direction.

"This government is committing a grave error if it thinks that this action would deter us from reaching out to every Kwaran, irrespective of political affiliations, who desires assistance in the area of human capital development."

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