Tension in Kwara over Continued Recognition of Sacked APC Lawmaker

Tension now mounts in Kwara State over the purported continued recognition by the Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly (KSHA), Hon. Yakub Danladi, of the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) lawmaker representing Ilorin East and Ilorin South’s state constituency, Hon. Abdulazeez Hassan Elewu that was sacked one month ago by the Court of Appeal.

Elewu, in spite of his removal by the Court of Appeal over his eligibility as the APC’s candidate during the last general election, has been attending legislative sitting at the assembly complex.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the election of Abdulraheem Agboola as the lawmaker representing Ilorin East and Ilorin South constituency in the KSHA.

The judgment, which was delivered by Justice Hamman Barkar Hkawu, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue the PDP’s candidate, Agboola, with certificate of return.

The court based its decision on the disputed APC’s primaries which produced Suleiman Abdulsalam and was later replaced with a 28-year-old Elewu.

The Appeal Court held that APC had no valid candidate for the 2019 House of Assembly elections and thereby declared the candidate with the second highest votes, which was the PDP candidate, Agboola, winner of the election.

However, Danladi is yet to swear-in Agboola as lawmaker representing Ilorin East/Ilorin South’s state constituency.

THISDAY checks revealed that the entire move by Agboola to be sworn in as lawmaker proved abortive because Elewu is still in possession of the certificate of return at the expense of winner at the Court of Appeal.

It was alleged that Agboola visited the INEC’s state headquarters in Ilorin to collect the certificate of return to no avail.