Appeal Court judgement: Kwara Assembly, PDP clash over candidate’s status

 Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Kwara state House of Assembly on Tuesday disagreed over alleged refusal of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-dominated assembly the entry of the PDP winner of the Ilorin South state Constituency Mallam Abdulraheem Agboola to the house.

Accordingly, scores of PDP members in the state stormed the state House of Assembly to protest against the alleged action of the legislators.

Recently, Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin, the state capital sacked the APC candidate, Hassan Abdulazeez at the March 9th, 2019 state Assembly election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a certificate of return to Agboola.

Speaking with reporters at the Assembly complex, Agboola said that the House had denied him entry since he got certificate of return from INEC Thursday last week.

Said he: “As we all know, Appeal court is the last destination for the House of Assembly election petition process. Its ruling has declared me winner. I started from the tribunal. I have my certificate of return from the INEC national headquarters, Abuja. The INEC in Kwara did the official presentation. According to the process, I have to come to the House in person to do documentation with the clerk of the House in order to ratify, verify, genuineness of the certificate.

“This is our third time of coming here. Since last Thursday that the certificate was issued, then Friday and today, they did not attend to us. The Speaker, the Clerk and all of them have made themselves not to be available. We’ve been patient, telling our supporters not to be violent. This is the House we built. I served here between 1999 and 2003.

“We got here by 8:00 am today, but the security personnel said that the Speaker would address when he comes. We said there’s no need for any address but entry into the House” he said.

Reacting, the Chairman House Committee on Information, Culture and Tourism, Awolola Ayokunle, said that the House was served “a court summon joining the Speaker and the Clerk to the House, in a motion on notice with No. FHC/IL/CS/157/2019, filed in the Federal High Court of Nigeria, in the Ilorin judicial division, holden at Ilorin by Hon. Hassan Abdulazeez Elewu, restraining the House from swearing-in the PDP candidate pending determination of the case.

“As the first arm of government charged with the responsibility of lawmaking, the House cannot but abide by the law. However, the House is restrained from taking further steps in respect of the certificate of return issued to the PDP candidate for the Ilorin South constituency seat until the determination of the above said suit scheduled to be moved on December 16, 2019.”

He assured members of the general public that the House is ready to abide by the rule of law at all times.