The Kwara State
House of Assembly has continued to recognise a lawmaker of the All Progressives
Congress, Abdulazeez Hassan Oluwanilo, as a member of the Assembly despite a
court order sacking him from the legislature.
An Appeal Court had
sacked Oluwanilo and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to
issue a Certificate of Return to Abdulraheem Agboola of the Peoples Democratic
Party.
The ruling of the
apex court made Agboola the only PDP lawmaker in the state's Assembly.
However, since the
ruling of the court, the Assembly had not only refused to recognise Agboola as
the elected lawmaker from Ilorin South but also continued to pay Oluwanilo all
salary and allowances.
Speaker of the
Assembly, Yakubu Salihu, has also given a standing order to the security of the
Assembly complex to deny Agboola entry and always turn him back whenever he
attempted to enter the premises of the House.
The latest execution
of such order was carried on Wednesday when the Kwara Assembly resumed plenary
after about three months of forced recess occasioned by the Coronavirus
outbreak.
Speaking with
SaharaReporters, Agboola described as illegal the activities of the House,
saying he was the duly elected representative of Ilorin South.
He said, “The law is
clear about that. There is an appeal and we won with the court asking them to
swear me in.
"He (Oluwanilo)
later said he is not satisfied with the judgment of the Court of Appeal and
went to Federal High Court where his case was struck out. I don’t know what he
is still looking for in the House.
“This morning, there
was a public advancement asking all honourable members to resume plenary but
they did not let me in.”
He added that Clerk
of the Assembly, Hajia Halimat Kperogi, has deliberately refused to introduce
him to the Speaker as the new member of the Assembly despite the court ruling.
“The clerk is
completely out of constitutional responsibility.
“What she is
supposed to do is ask me to submit the Certificate of Return given to me by
INEC and do the needful with the Speaker.
“I tried to get in
touch with the Clerk because it is the Clerk that will introduce the new member
to the Speaker.”
All attempt to get
Oluwanilo to comment on the issue was abortive as he refused to answer calls
placed to his mobile line and did not respond to text messages sent to him.
Also, Chairman,
House Committee on Information, Culture and Tourism, Awolola Ayokunle, as well
as the Clerk of the Assembly both refused to respond to calls and text messages
sent to their mobile lines.
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